Item Twelve: Promptly and Accurately Identify the Various People, Events, and Things That Disrupt and Disturb God’s Work and the Normal Order of the Church; Stop and Restrict Them, and Turn Things Around; Additionally, Fellowship the Truth So That God’s Chosen People Develop Discernment Through Such Things and Learn From Them (Part Five)

The Various People, Events, and Things That Disrupt and Disturb Church Life

IX. Venting Negativity

Today, we continue our fellowship on the twelfth responsibility of leaders and workers: “Promptly and accurately identify the various people, events, and things that disrupt and disturb God’s work and the normal order of the church; stop and restrict them, and turn things around; additionally, fellowship the truth so that God’s chosen people develop discernment through such things and learn from them.” Concerning the various disruptions and disturbances that arise in church life, last time we fellowshipped about the eighth issue—spreading notions—and today we will fellowship about the ninth—venting negativity. Venting negativity is also something often heard in everyday life. Similarly, acts or statements of venting negativity should also be restricted and stopped when they appear in church life, because venting negativity is not edifying for any person; rather, it impacts, disturbs, and causes loss for people. Therefore, venting negativity is a negative thing, similar in nature to other behaviors, actions, and statements that disturb church life; it can also disturb people and have adverse impacts. No one can edify others or bring benefits to them by venting negativity; it only brings harmful effects and can also affect people’s normal performance of their duties. Thus, when venting negativity occurs in the church, it should similarly be stopped and restricted, not indulged or encouraged.

A. What Venting Negativity Is

First let us look at how venting negativity should be understood and discerned. How should we discern venting negativity? Which of people’s remarks and manifestations are those of venting negativity? Above all, the negativity that people vent is not positive, it is something adverse that contradicts the truth, and it is something produced from their corrupt disposition. Having a corrupt disposition leads to difficulties in practicing the truth and submitting to God—and because of these difficulties, negative thoughts and other negative things are revealed in people. These things are produced in the context of them trying to practice the truth; these are thoughts and viewpoints that affect and hinder people when they try to practice the truth, and are wholly negative things. No matter how in line with the notions of man and how reasonable these negative thoughts and viewpoints sound, they do not come from the understanding of God’s words, much less are they experiential knowledge of God’s words. Instead, they are produced by the human mind, and not in agreement with the truth at all. Therefore, they are negative things, adverse things. The intention of people who vent negativity is to find many objective reasons for their failure to practice the truth, so as to earn other people’s sympathy and understanding. To varying degrees, these negative statements influence and undermine people’s initiative in practicing the truth, and can even stop many people from practicing the truth. These consequences and adverse impacts make these negative things even more deserving of being characterized as adverse, in opposition to God, and totally hostile to the truth. Some people cannot see through to the essence of negativity, and think that frequent negativity is normal, and that it has no great effect on people’s pursuit of the truth. This line of thought is wrong; in fact, it has a very great effect, and if someone’s negativity becomes too much for themselves to bear, it can easily lead to betrayal. This terrible consequence is caused by none other than negativity. So how should the venting of negativity be discerned and understood? Simply put, to vent negativity is to mislead people and stop them from practicing the truth; it is the use of soft tactics, of seemingly normal methods, to mislead people and trip them up. Is this harmful to them? It is actually profoundly damaging to them. And so, venting negativity is something adverse, it is condemned by God; this is the simplest interpretation of venting negativity. So just what is the negative component of venting negativity? What things are negative, and liable to have an adverse impact on people, and to cause disruption and harm to church life? What does negativity include? If people have a pure comprehension of God’s words, will the words they fellowship contain any negativity? If people have an attitude of true submission toward the circumstances laid forth for them by God, then will their knowledge of these circumstances contain any negativity? When they share their experiential knowledge with everyone, will it contain any negativity? Certainly not. With regard to anything that happens in the church or around them, if people are able to accept it from God, have the correct approach, and can have an attitude of seeking and submission, then will their knowledge, understanding, and experience of what happens contain any negativity? (No.) It absolutely will not. So viewed in these regards, just what is negativity? How can it be understood? Doesn’t negativity contain things of this nature—people’s disobedience, dissatisfaction, grievances, and resentment? More serious cases of negativity also include resistance, defiance, and even clamoring. Voicing remarks that contain these elements can be characterized as venting negativity. So judging from these manifestations, when a person vents negativity, is there any submission to God in their heart? Certainly not. Is there any willingness to rebel against the flesh and resolve their negativity? No—there is nothing but resistance, rebelliousness, and opposition. If people’s hearts are filled with these things—if their hearts have been taken over by these negative things—then this will produce resistance, rebelliousness, and defiance toward God. And if this is the case, will they still be able to practice the truth and submit to God? They will not; all that will happen is that they will become distant from God, and grow more negative, and may even doubt, deny, and betray God. Isn’t this dangerous? Anyone who is often negative is capable of venting negativity, and to vent negativity is to oppose and deny God; as such, people who often vent negativity are liable to betray God and leave Him at any time or place.

Judging from the meaning of the word “negativity,” when a person becomes negative, their mood falls into a very low state and they enter a bad frame of mind. Their mood is filled with negative elements, they lack an attitude of actively making progress and striving forward, and they lack positive, active cooperation and seeking; even more so, they demonstrate no willing submission, showing instead an incredibly despondent mood. What does a despondent mood represent? Does it represent the positive aspects of humanity? Does it represent having conscience and reason? Does it represent living with dignity, living within the dignity of humanity? (No.) If it does not represent these positive things, what does it represent? Can it represent a lack of true faith in God, as well as a lack of determination and resolve to pursue the truth and proactively make progress? Can it represent a strong dissatisfaction with and trouble understanding one’s current situation and difficulties, and an unwillingness to accept the facts of the present? Can it represent a situation in which one’s heart is filled with disobedience, a desire to defy, and a desire to escape and change the current situation? (Yes.) These are the states that people exhibit when they face the current situation with negativity. In short, no matter what, when people are negative, their dissatisfaction with the current situation and with what God has arranged is not equivalent to something as simple as them merely having misunderstandings, not understanding, not comprehending, or not being able to experience. Not comprehending may be a matter of caliber or time, which is a normal manifestation of humanity. Not being able to experience may also be due to some objective reasons, but these are not considered negative, adverse things. Some people are also unable to experience, but when faced with things they do not understand or see through, or things they are unable to comprehend or experience, they will pray to God and seek His desires, wait for God’s enlightenment and illumination, and actively seek from and fellowship with others. However, some people are different; they do not have these paths of practice, nor do they have such an attitude. Instead of waiting, seeking, or finding someone to fellowship with, they develop misunderstandings in their hearts, feeling that the events and circumstances they encounter do not align with their desires, preferences, or imaginings, thereby leading to disobedience, dissatisfaction, resistance, complaints, defiance, clamoring, and other such adverse things. Having generated these adverse things, they do not think much of them, nor do they come before God to pray and reflect to gain knowledge of their own state and corruption. They do not read God’s words to seek God’s desires or use God’s words to resolve problems, much less seek from and fellowship with others. Instead, they insist that what they believe is correct and accurate, harboring disobedience and dissatisfaction in their hearts, and remain trapped in negative, adverse emotions. When trapped in these emotions, they might be able to keep them bottled up and withstand them for a day or two, but over a longer period, many things are produced in their minds, including human notions and imaginings, human ethics and morals, human culture, traditions, and knowledge, and so on. They use these things to gauge, calculate, and understand the problems they face, completely ensnared in Satan’s web, thus giving rise to various states of dissatisfaction and disobedience. From these corrupt states, various erroneous ideas and viewpoints then emerge, and in their hearts these negative things can no longer be controlled. They then look for opportunities to pour out and vent these things. When their hearts are filled with negativity, do they say, “I’m filled with negative things inside; I shouldn’t speak recklessly, to avoid harming others. If I feel like speaking and can’t hold it in, I’ll speak to a wall, or talk to something that doesn’t understand human speech”? Are they kind enough to do this? (No.) What do they do then? They look for opportunities to have an audience to receive their negative views, remarks, and emotions, using this to pour out their various negative feelings such as dissatisfaction, disobedience, and resentment from their hearts. They believe that during church life is the best time to vent, and a good occasion to pour out their negativity, dissatisfaction, and disobedience because there are many listeners and their words can influence others to become negative and bring adverse consequences to the church’s work. Of course, those who vent negativity can’t hold back even behind the scenes; they always pour out their negative speech. When there aren’t many people to hear them vent, they find it unexciting, but when everyone gathers together, they become more energized. Judging from the emotions, states, and other aspects of those who vent negativity, their aim is not to help people understand the truth, see through what is true, clear up misunderstandings or doubts about God, know themselves and their own corrupt essence, or resolve their issues of rebelliousness and corruption so that they do not rebel against God or oppose Him but rather submit to Him. Their aims are essentially twofold: In one respect, they vent negativity to pour out their own emotions; in the other, they aim to draw more people into negativity and into the trap of resisting and clamoring against God along with them. Therefore, the act of venting negativity should absolutely be stopped within church life.

B. The Various States and Manifestations of People Who Vent Negativity

1. Venting Negativity While Feeling Dissatisfied About Being Dismissed

The emotions and manifestations of negativity are basically these. After I fellowshipped about these, people should compare themselves against them and see which of their behaviors, remarks, and methods in real life are those of venting negativity, and what situations cause them to fall into negativity, thus leading to the venting of negativity. Tell Me, under typical circumstances, what situations cause people to be negative? What are the common forms of negativity? (When someone is dismissed or when they are pruned, they may develop some negativity in their heart.) Being dismissed is one scenario, being pruned is another. Why does being dismissed lead to negativity? (Some people, after being dismissed, have no self-knowledge and think that it was their status that led to their downfall. They then say, “The higher you climb, the harder you fall,” voicing some negative viewpoints. They do not have a pure comprehension of being dismissed; they are disobedient in their hearts.) Inside them, there is disobedience and dissatisfaction, which are negative emotions. Do they complain? (Yes. They feel that they have endured hardship and paid a price, having always worked strenuously without getting anything good in return, and yet were still dismissed. So they say, “It’s tough being a leader; whoever becomes a leader is unlucky. Eventually everyone gets dismissed.”) Spreading these remarks is venting negativity. If they are merely disobedient and dissatisfied but do not spread it, that does not yet constitute venting negativity. If from disobedience and dissatisfaction there gradually emerges an aggrieved mood, and they do not acknowledge the fact that they have poor caliber and were unable to do the job, and then they start to argue their twisted logic, generating all sorts of statements, viewpoints, excuses, reasons, explanations, justifications, and so on while arguing, then making these types of remarks amounts to venting negativity. Some false leaders, dismissed for not doing real work, harbor disobedience and dissatisfaction in their hearts, not having any submission at all; they always think, “Let’s see who can take my place as leader. Others are no better than me; if I can’t do the work, neither can they!” What makes them disobedient? They think their caliber isn’t poor and they have done plenty of work, so why were they dismissed? These are the inner thoughts of a false leader. They do not reflect to know themselves and see whether or not they actually did any real work, how many actual problems they resolved, or whether or not it’s a fact that they did paralyze the work of the church. They seldom consider these things. They don’t think the issue is that they lack the truth reality and cannot see through things; rather, they believe that having done a lot of work, they should not be characterized as a false leader. This is the primary reason for their disobedience and dissatisfaction. They always think: “I have done my duties for many years, getting up early and staying up late every day for whom? After believing in God, I left my family behind, gave up my career, and even risked being arrested and imprisoned to do my duties. How much hardship have I endured! And now they say I haven’t done actual work and just dismiss me—it’s so unfair! Even if I haven’t had any achievements, I have endured hardship; if not hardship, then fatigue! With my caliber and ability to pay a price in my work, if even I am still considered not up to standard and get dismissed, then I think there are hardly any leaders who are up to standard!” Are they venting negativity by speaking these words? Is there a single sentence among them that conveys submission? Is there even a hint of wanting to seek the truth? Is there any self-reflection, like, “They say my work is not up to standard, so where exactly am I lacking? What actual work have I not done? What manifestations of a false leader do I exhibit?” Have they reflected on themselves in this way? (No.) So, what is the nature of these words they say? Are they complaining? Are they justifying themselves? What is their purpose in justifying themselves? Isn’t it to gain people’s sympathy and understanding? Don’t they want more people to come to their defense, to lament the injustice they’ve suffered? (Yes.) Then who are they clamoring against? Aren’t they arguing with and clamoring against God? (Yes.) Their speech is complaining about God, opposing God. Their hearts are filled with grievances, with resistance and rebelliousness. Not only that, but by venting negativity, they aim to make more people understand them, sympathize with them, and make more people develop negativity like them, to make more people foster grievances, resistance, and defiance against God, or clamor against Him, just like them. Don’t they vent negativity to achieve this purpose? Their purpose is simply to let more people know the so-called truth of the matter and to make others believe they are being wronged, that what they did was right, that they shouldn’t have been dismissed, and that dismissing them was a mistake; they want more people to come to their defense. Through this, they hope to restore their face, status, and reputation. All false leaders and antichrists, after being dismissed, vent negativity like this to win people’s sympathy. Not one of them can reflect on and come to know themselves, admit their mistakes, or show genuine remorse and repentance. This fact proves that false leaders and antichrists are all people who don’t love the truth, and don’t accept it at all. So, after being revealed and eliminated, they cannot come to know themselves through the truth and God’s words. No one has seen them show remorse or have genuine knowledge of themselves, nor has anyone seen them demonstrate true repentance. They seem never to gain knowledge of themselves or admit their mistakes. Judging from this fact, dismissing false leaders and antichrists is entirely appropriate and not unjust at all. Based on their complete lack of reflection and knowledge of themselves, as well as their being devoid of all remorse, it is evident that their antichrist disposition is severe, and that they do not love the truth at all.

Some false leaders, after being dismissed, don’t acknowledge their mistakes at all, nor do they seek the truth or reflect on and know themselves. They don’t have the slightest heart or attitude of submission. Instead, they misunderstand God and complain that God treats them unfairly, racking their brains to find various excuses and reasons to justify and defend themselves. Some even say, “I never wanted to be a leader before because I knew it was a difficult job. If you do well, you don’t get rewarded, and if you don’t do well, you get dismissed and become notorious, rejected by the brothers and sisters, and left with no face at all. How could someone show their face after that? Now that I’ve been dismissed, I’m even more convinced that it’s not easy being a leader or worker; it’s an arduous and thankless job!” What does the statement “being a leader or worker is an arduous and thankless job” mean? Is there any intention to seek the truth being conveyed here? Isn’t it the case that they’ve begun to hate the fact that God’s house arranged for them to be a leader or worker, and they are now using this kind of statement to mislead others? (Yes.) What are the consequences this statement can bring about? Most people’s minds, thinking, and their comprehension and understanding of this matter will be influenced and disturbed by these words. This is the consequence that venting negativity brings about for people. For instance, if you’re not a leader and you hear this, you’ll be startled, thinking, “Isn’t that true! I must not be chosen as a leader. If I am, I’ll have to quickly find all sorts of reasons and excuses to decline. I’ll say I lack the caliber and can’t do the work.” Some who are leaders are also affected by this statement, thinking, “How terrifying! Will I also be faced with the same outcome as them in the future? If that’s how things are going to pan out, I absolutely refuse to be a leader.” Do these negative, adverse emotions and this negative, adverse statement disturb people? They clearly cause disturbances. No matter the person, whether they have good caliber or poor caliber, when they hear these words, they will involuntarily take them in first, and these words will occupy a predominant position in their mind, and affect them to varying degrees. What are the consequences of being affected? Most people won’t be able to approach the matter of being a leader and being dismissed from leadership correctly, and they won’t have an attitude of submission. Instead, they will have a heart that is always misunderstanding and guarding against God, they will develop negative emotions concerning this issue, and they will be particularly sensitive and fearful when the issue is mentioned. When people exhibit these behaviors, haven’t they fallen into Satan’s temptation and misleading? It’s clear they have been misled and disturbed by the people venting negativity. Because the things vented by people who vent negativity stem from people’s corrupt dispositions and from Satan, and because they are not an understanding of the truth or the experiential insights gained by submitting to the environments God arranges, those who hear them are disturbed to varying degrees. The negativity people vent causes some adverse, perturbing effects on everyone. Some who actively seek the truth will be less harmed. Others, with no resistance at all, can’t help but be perturbed and deeply harmed, even if they know the words are wrong. Regardless of what God says, how He fellowships on the matter, or what requirements He has, they ignore all of this and instead keep in mind the words of those who vent negativity, always warning themselves not to relax their vigilance, as if these negative statements are their protective umbrella, their shield. No matter what God says, they cannot let go of their guardedness and misunderstandings. These people, who have no entry into the truth or God’s words, and who don’t understand the truth reality, have no discernment of these negative statements, and no resistance to them. They ultimately end up being constrained and bound by these negative statements, and can’t accept God’s words anymore. Haven’t they been harmed by this? To what extent have they been harmed? They can’t take in or understand God’s words but instead regard the negative words, the words of dissatisfaction, disobedience, and complaint voiced by people as positive things, regarding them as their personal mottos to be kept close to their hearts, and using them to guide their lives, to oppose God and defy His words. Haven’t they fallen into Satan’s web? (Yes.) These people get involuntarily trapped in Satan’s web, and they are captured by Satan. The negative statements these people voice about such a simple matter as being dismissed from a position nevertheless have immense impacts on others. There is a root cause to this: Those who accept these negative statements were already full of notions and imaginings—and even some misunderstandings and guardedness—about being a leader. Although these misunderstandings and guardedness weren’t fully formed in their minds, after hearing these negative statements, they are more convinced that their guardedness and misunderstandings are correct; they feel they have even more reason to believe that being a leader brings with it a great deal of misfortune and not many good things, and that they should absolutely not become a leader or worker so as to avoid being dismissed and rejected for making mistakes. Have they not been utterly misled and influenced by those who vent negativity? Just the negative statements voiced by a person who has been dismissed, as well as their feelings of disobedience and dissatisfaction, can cause such significant impacts and harm to people. What do you think—is it a serious issue that the negative emotions people vent are full of an atmosphere of death? (Yes, it’s serious.) What makes it so serious? It’s that it perfectly caters to people’s deep-seated guardedness and misunderstandings toward God, while also reflecting people’s states of misunderstanding and doubting God, as well as their internal attitude toward Him. Therefore, the statements spread by those venting negativity directly strike at people’s vital points, and people fully accept them, falling so completely into Satan’s web that they cannot free themselves. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? (A bad thing.) What are the consequences of this? (It makes people betray God.) (It makes people guard against and misunderstand God, become distant from God in their hearts, approach their duties negatively, and fear accepting important commissions. They become content with doing common duties and thus miss many opportunities to be perfected.) Can such people be saved? (No.)

Paul put forth many viewpoints and wrote many letters two thousand years ago. In those letters, he said a lot of fallacies. Since people lack discernment, those reading the Bible over the past two thousand years have predominantly accepted Paul’s thoughts and viewpoints while setting aside the words of the Lord Jesus, not accepting the truths from God. Can those who accept Paul’s thoughts and viewpoints come before God? Can they accept His words? (No.) If they cannot accept God’s words, can they treat God as God? (No.) When God arrives and stands before them, can they recognize God? Can they accept Him as their God and Lord? (No.) Why can’t they? The fallacious thoughts and viewpoints of Paul have filled people’s hearts, forming all sorts of theories and sayings. When people use these to measure God, His work, His words, His disposition, and His attitude toward people, they are no longer corrupt humans of the ordinary, simple type, but stand opposed to God, scrutinizing and analyzing Him, and becoming hostile toward Him. Can God save such people? (No.) If God does not save them, will they still have the opportunity to receive salvation? God’s predestination and selection have given people an opportunity, but if after God’s predestination and selection the path people choose is the one that follows Paul, does this opportunity for salvation still exist? Some people say, “I was predestined and chosen by God, so I’m already in the safe zone. I’ll definitely be saved.” Do these words hold up? What does it mean to be predestined and chosen by God? It means you have become a candidate for salvation, but whether you will be saved depends on how well you pursue and if you have chosen the correct path. Is it that all candidates will be selected and saved in the end? No. Likewise, if people accept the feelings, such as disobedience, dissatisfaction, and grievance, or the remarks, thoughts, and viewpoints expressed by those venting negativity, and their hearts are filled and possessed by these adverse things, this doesn’t indicate they just agree a little—it means they fully accept them and want to live by these things. When people live according to these adverse things, what does their relationship with God become? It turns into an antagonistic relationship. It’s not the relationship between the Creator and created beings, nor the relationship between God and corrupt humankind, and certainly not the relationship between God and those who receive salvation. Instead, it turns into the relationship between God and Satan, between God and His enemies. So, whether people can receive salvation becomes a question mark, an unknown. The negative statements made by those who have been dismissed are filled with complaints, misunderstandings, justifications, and defenses; they even say some things that mislead and draw people toward them. After hearing these statements, people develop misunderstandings and guardedness toward God, and even distance themselves from and reject Him in their hearts. Thus, when such people are venting negativity, they should be promptly restricted and stopped. Their inability to accept the situations they experience from God, seek the truth, and submit to God is their own issue, and they shouldn’t be allowed to affect others. If they cannot accept it, let them digest and resolve it gradually. But if they vent negativity and impact and disturb other people’s normal entry, they must be stopped and restricted in a timely manner. If they cannot be restricted and they continue to vent negativity to mislead and draw people to their side, then they should be promptly cleared out. They should not be allowed to continue disturbing the church life.

2. Venting Negativity While Refusing to Accept Pruning

There is another situation in which people are likely to vent negativity: When they face being pruned and cannot accept some words of pruning, they will harbor disobedience, dissatisfaction, and grievance in their hearts, and sometimes even feel wronged. They believe there’s been an injustice: “Why am I not allowed to explain or clarify myself? Why am I being continually pruned?” What kinds of negativity do these people typically vent? They also look for reasons to justify and defend themselves. Instead of dissecting, making up for, or remedying their mistakes, they argue their case, saying things like why they didn’t do something well, the causes behind it, what the objective factors and conditions were, and how they didn’t do it intentionally; they use these excuses to justify and defend themselves to achieve their aim of refusing the pruning. These people do not acknowledge that the pruning is correct, and they analyze the pruning incident with many other people, trying to explain the matter clearly in front of everyone. They even say: “This kind of pruning will discourage people from doing their duties. No one will be willing to do their duties anymore. People won’t know how to proceed and won’t have a path of practice.” There are even some people who, on the surface, fellowship about how they accept being pruned, but in actuality, they are using the fellowship to justify and defend themselves, making more people believe that God’s house does not consider people’s feelings at all in how it treats them and that even a small mistake can result in being pruned. Those who are prone to vent negativity never reflect on themselves. Even when faced with being pruned, they don’t reflect on the nature of their mistakes or what caused them. They don’t dissect these issues but instead consistently argue, justify and defend themselves. Some people even say, “Before I was pruned, I felt there was a path to follow. But when I was pruned, I became confused. I don’t know how to practice or how to believe in God anymore, and I can’t see the way forward.” They also tell others, “You must be very careful not to be pruned; it’s so painful, like peeling off a layer of skin. Don’t follow my old path. Look at what’s become of me after being pruned. I’m stuck, unable to move forward or backward; nothing I do is right!” Are these words correct? Is there any problem with them? (Yes. They are justifying themselves and arguing, saying they did nothing wrong.) What message is being conveyed through this justification and argument? (They are saying that God’s house is wrong to prune people.) Some people say, “Before being pruned, I felt like I had a path to follow, but after being pruned, I don’t know what to do.” Why is it that they don’t know what to do after being pruned? What’s the reason for this? (When faced with pruning, they don’t accept the truth or attempt to know themselves. They harbor some notions and don’t seek the truth to resolve them. This leaves them without a path. Instead of finding the cause within themselves, they claim the opposite, that it was being pruned that caused them to lose their way.) Isn’t this recrimination? It’s like saying, “What I did was in accordance with principles, but your pruning of me makes it clear that you’re not letting me handle things according to principles. So, how am I supposed to practice in the future?” This is what people who say such things mean. Are they accepting being pruned? Do they accept the fact that they made mistakes? (No.) Doesn’t this statement actually mean that they know how to recklessly commit misdeeds, but when pruned and asked to act according to principles, they don’t know what to do and become confused? (Yes.) So, how did they do things before? When someone faces being pruned, isn’t it because they didn’t act according to principles? (Yes.) They recklessly commit misdeeds, don’t seek the truth, and don’t do things according to principles or the rules of God’s house, so they receive pruning. The purpose of pruning is to enable people to seek the truth and act according to principles, to prevent them from recklessly committing misdeeds again. However, when faced with being pruned, those people say they don’t know how to act or how to practice anymore—do these words contain any element of self-knowledge? (No.) They have no intention to know themselves or seek the truth. Instead, they imply: “I used to do my duties very well, but since you pruned me, you’ve thrown my thoughts into disarray and confused my approach to my duties. Now my thinking is not normal, and I’m not as decisive or bold as I was before, I’m not as brave, and this is all due to being pruned. Since I was pruned, my heart has been deeply wounded. So, I must tell others to be very careful when doing their duties. They must not reveal their flaws or slip up; if they slip up, they’ll be pruned, and then they’ll become timid and lose the drive they once had. Their bold spirit will be significantly dulled, and their youthful courage and desire to give it their all will disappear, leaving them meekly wimpish, fearful of their own shadow, and feeling that nothing they do is right. They’ll no longer feel God’s presence in their hearts, and will feel increasingly distant from Him. Even praying and crying out to God will seem to go unanswered. They’ll feel they don’t have the same vitality, exuberance, and lovableness, and will even start to look down on themselves.” Are these the heartfelt words fellowshipped by someone with experience? Are they genuine? Do they edify or benefit people? Isn’t this just twisting facts? (Yes, these words are quite absurd.) They say, “Don’t follow in my footsteps or repeat my old path! You see me as quite well-behaved now, but in fact I was just scared after that pruning and haven’t been as free and liberated as I was before.” What impact do these words have on the listeners? (They make people more guarded against God, causing them to act cautiously for fear of being pruned.) They have this kind of negative impact. After hearing this, people will think, “Tell me about it! One little oversight and you wind up getting pruned—there’s nothing you can do to prevent it! Why’s it got to be so hard doing duties in God’s house? Always going on about the truth principles—it’s really demanding! Isn’t it okay to just live a simple, steady life? That’s not a high demand or an extravagant hope, but why is it so difficult to achieve? I sure hope I don’t get pruned. I’m a very timid person; normally, when people glare at me and speak loudly, my heart starts pounding. If I truly face pruning and the words are that stern, dissecting the facts like that, how could I handle it? Wouldn’t it give me nightmares? Everyone says pruning is good, but I don’t see how that’s the case. Wasn’t that person scared by it? If I got pruned, I’d be scared too.” Isn’t this the impact caused by the words of those who vent negativity? Is this impact affirmative and positive or negative and adverse? (Negative and adverse.) These negative statements can cause immense harm to those who are willing to pursue the truth! So, tell Me, are those who frequently vent negativity and spread death servants of Satan? Are they people who disturb the work of the church? (Yes.)

Some people act according to their own ideas and go against principles. After being pruned, they feel that despite working so hard and paying a price, they were still pruned, so their hearts become filled with disobedience, and they don’t accept exposure or dissection. They believe that God is unrighteous and that God’s house is unfair to them, in that such a useful person of talent as they are, who endures so much suffering and pays so high a price, goes unpraised by God’s house and even gets pruned. From their disobedience emerge grievances, and they’ll vent their negativity: “The way I see it, there’s nothing harder than believing in God; it’s really difficult to receive some blessings and enjoy a bit of grace. I’ve paid so high a price, but I got pruned for doing one thing poorly. If someone like me isn’t up to the task, how could anyone be? Isn’t God righteous? Why is it that I’m not up to recognizing His righteousness? How is God’s righteousness so inconsistent with people’s notions?” They don’t dissect what they’ve done that goes against principles or what corrupt dispositions they’ve revealed. They don’t just lack even a hint of remorse or submission—they even judge and resist openly. After hearing them make such a statement, most people start to sympathize somewhat with them and are swayed by them: “It’s true, isn’t it? They’ve believed in God for twenty years and still faced such pruning. If someone who’s believed for twenty years may not necessarily be saved, then people like us have even less hope.” Haven’t they been poisoned? Once negativity is vented, poison is sown, like a seed planted in people’s hearts, taking root, sprouting, blooming, and bearing fruit in their minds. Before people know it, they’re poisoned, and resistance and complaints against God arise in them. When those people have been pruned, they become disobedient toward God and dissatisfied with how God’s house handled them. Instead of adopting an attitude of repentance and confession, they argue, give justifications, and defend themselves. They make it known far and wide how many hardships they’ve endured, what work they’ve done, and what duties they’ve done over their many years of faith, and that instead of receiving rewards now, they face pruning. Not only do they fail to recognize from being pruned their own corruption and the mistakes they’ve made, but they also spread the idea that the way God’s house has treated them is unfair and less than reasonable, that they shouldn’t be treated like that, and that if they are, then God isn’t righteous. The reason they vent this negativity is that they cannot accept pruning or the fact that they made mistakes, much less do they accept or acknowledge the fact that they caused harm to the life entry of the brothers and sisters and to the work of the church. They believe that they acted correctly, and that it was God’s house that was wrong to prune them. By venting negativity, they mean to tell people that God’s house is unfair in how it treats people: Once someone makes a mistake, God’s house will use it as ammunition against them, seizing upon this issue and pruning them ruthlessly, to the point where they become compliant and think they haven’t made any contributions, where they no longer have anyone who idolizes them, no longer appreciate themselves, and no longer dare to ask God for rewards—only then will God’s house have achieved its purpose. Their aim in venting this negativity is to make more people come to their defense, to get more people to understand “the truth of the matter” and to see how much suffering they’ve endured over their many years of belief in God, how significant their contributions have been and how qualified they are, and how seasoned a believer they are. With this, they want to get others to stand on their side in shared opposition to the rules of God’s house and the pruning God’s house dealt them. Isn’t this in nature drawing people over to their side? (Yes.) Their goal in venting negativity in this way is to draw people over to their side and mislead them, and they disturb the work of the church to give vent to their resentment. Regardless of the effect it ultimately has on people when they’ve vented their negativity, the effect and consequence is that people are misled and disturbed, that they’re harmed. It’s not edifying. It’s a negative effect.

When people are faced with pruning, these are basically the kinds of negativity they vent. They cannot accept being pruned and are dissatisfied and disobedient in their hearts, unable to accept it from God. Their first response isn’t to seek the truth regarding the pruning and to reflect on, know, and dissect themselves, to see what exactly they did wrong, whether their actions aligned with principles, why God’s house pruned them, and whether their being treated this way was due to personal resentment or was fair and reasonable. Their first response is not to seek these things—instead, their first response is to rely on their qualifications, endured hardships, and expenditure to oppose the pruning. In doing so, everything that arises within their hearts is bound to be negative and adverse, with nothing affirmative or positive. So, when they fellowship about their feelings and understanding after being pruned, they are certainly venting negativity and spreading notions. The venting of negativity and spreading of notions should be promptly stopped and restricted, not indulged and ignored. These negative things will obstruct, disturb, and damage each person’s life entry, and they cannot play an affirmative, positive role, much less can they inspire people’s loyalty to God or their loyal performance of their duties. Therefore, when such people vent negativity, they are disturbing church life and should be restricted.

3. Venting Negativity When One’s Reputation, Status, and Interests Are Harmed

Besides venting negativity after being dismissed or pruned, in what other situations do people vent negativity? (When people’s interests are harmed and they feel they’ve suffered a loss.) (Some people have done their duties for many years, but when they fall ill or disasters strike their families, they say, “What have I gained from believing in God for so many years?”) The common “catchphrase” of Negative Nancys is “What have I gained?” What other situations are there? (Some people not only fail to achieve results in their duties, but they frequently make mistakes, so they say, “Why does God enlighten others but not me? Why did God give them such good caliber while my caliber is so poor?” Instead of reflecting on their own issues, they shift the responsibility to God, saying God hasn’t enlightened or guided them, and then they keep complaining about God.) They claim that God is unfair, asking why He enlightens and bestows grace to others but not them, grumbling about why they don’t achieve results in their duties—they’re complaining. The examples you provided are good. Any more? (Some people become full of resentment when their duties are reassigned, questioning why they were reassigned, and suspecting that the leaders and workers are targeting them and are making things difficult for them.) Do they feel that God’s house looks down on them? (Yes.) Some people who don’t do actual work get dismissed and eliminated, and they feel that their reputation and status have been damaged. To pour out their dissatisfaction, they are always beefing in private: “I’ve believed in God for a short time, my comprehension ability is no good, and I’m of poor caliber. I don’t measure up to the others. If they say I’m not capable, I must not be!” On the face of it, they’re acknowledging their shortcomings, but in fact, they’re trying to regain the benefits they’ve lost, incessantly beefing, and saying things to gain people’s sympathy and make them feel God’s house is unfair. As soon as their interests are harmed, they become reluctant, and are always hoping to recover their losses and receive compensation. If they don’t, they lose their faith in God and no longer know how to believe in Him, saying things like, “I used to think believing in God was great, and that acting as a leader or worker in the church would definitely bring great blessings. I never expected to be dismissed and eliminated, and to be rejected by others. To think that something like this could happen in God’s house! Not everyone who believes in God is necessarily a good person, and not everything God’s house does represents God or justice.” What is the nature of statements like this? Their words, both explicitly and implicitly, convey an attack. They convey judgment and resistance. On the surface, they seem to target a certain leader or the church, but what they’re really aiming these words at in their hearts is God, His words, and the administrative decrees and rules of His house. They’re purely giving vent to their resentment. Why are they giving vent to their resentment? They feel they’ve suffered a loss; in their hearts, they feel unfairness and discontent, and they want to solicit things and receive compensation. While the negativity vented by such people does not pose a significant threat to most, these foul words are like pesky flies or bedbugs that form a moderate disturbance to people’s minds. Most people feel repulsed and averse when they’ve heard these words, but there will inevitably be those of the same ilk as such people, those with the same dispositions, essences, and penchants, who are birds of the same rotten feather as those people, and who are swayed and disturbed by them. It’s inevitable. What’s more, some people of small stature who lack discernment can be disturbed by these negative remarks, and their faith in God can be influenced. These people already don’t know what belief in God is for, exactly, and they’re unclear about the truths of visions, and their ability to comprehend the truth is poor, too. When they’ve heard these negative statements, they are extremely likely to take them in involuntarily, and so to suffer their influence. These words are poison. They can easily be planted in people’s hearts. Once someone has accepted these negative remarks, when God’s house asks them to do a duty, they respond with indifference. When God’s house asks for their cooperation in some task, they’re lukewarm. They’ll only take it up if they feel like it; otherwise, they won’t, always with reasons and excuses of all sorts. Before they heard those negative remarks, there was a bit of sincerity in their belief in God, and they had something of a positive, proactive attitude when doing their duties. But after hearing those negative remarks, they grow indifferent, and they’re cold toward their brothers and sisters, too. They’re guarded toward them. When the church arranges for them to do a duty, they keep evading and repeatedly pushing it away, showing great passivity. Before, they punctually attended gatherings, but after hearing those remarks, their attendance becomes sporadic—they come when they’re in a good mood, but don’t when they’re not. If something unpleasant happens at home, they worry that some disaster might occur, so they attend more gatherings and read more of God’s words. If they’re thrilled, happy, and moved after reading God’s words, they’ll even offer some money. But once things are calm at home, they once again stop attending gatherings. When the brothers and sisters attempt to fellowship with them in hopes of supporting them, they find excuses to refuse; and when brothers and sisters go to their house, they won’t open the door, even when they’re clearly at home. What’s going on here? They have been influenced by those negative remarks—they have been poisoned and believe that believers in God are unreliable. At first, they trusted these people quite a lot, and when they read God’s words they thought, “These are God’s words, these people are my brothers and sisters, this is God’s house—how wonderful!” But after they heard the negative remarks spread by certain people, they changed. Haven’t they been influenced? Hasn’t their life entry been damaged? (Yes.) Who influenced them? It’s the people who vent negativity, those who made those remarks. If someone hasn’t yet laid a solid foundation in the true way or eaten and drunk God’s words to the point where they understand the truth, they can easily be influenced by negative things. And in particular, those who have no ability to comprehend the truth, but simply watch trends, observe the situation, and look at surface phenomena—they are even more easily swayed by negative words. Especially when they’ve heard people speak fallacies like, “God’s house isn’t necessarily fair, and not everything God’s house does is positive,” their guardedness grows even more. A statement that aligns with the truth isn’t always readily accepted, but a negative statement, an absurd statement, a statement that contradicts the truth—these can too easily take root in people’s hearts, and removing them isn’t easy. It’s so difficult for people to accept the truth and so easy for them to accept fallacies!

Some people with bad humanity place great importance on their own prestige, fame, fleshly enjoyment, and personal property and interests. When their reputation, status, and direct interests suffer losses, they do not accept this from God, or accept the environment God has laid out for them, and they are unable to let go of these things and disregard their personal gain and loss. Instead, they use various opportunities to vent their dissatisfaction and disobedience, and vent their negative emotions, causing some people to suffer greatly as a result. Therefore, when such people vent negativity, church leaders must first promptly grasp the situation, and stop and restrict those people in a timely manner. Of course, church leaders should also proactively expose those people, and fellowship with the brothers and sisters on how to discern them, and why they say these negative and absurd things, as well as how to treat and discern these words in order to prevent oneself from being misled and grievously harmed by them. It is necessary to be able to discern and dissect such people, and thereby avoid and reject them, and no longer be misled by them. This is the work that church leaders should do. Of course, if ordinary brothers and sisters discover such people and discern their humanity essence, they should also stay away from them. If you do not have sufficient ability to resist, or the stature to support, help, and change them, and you feel that you cannot withstand their negative remarks and their words of dissatisfaction and disobedience, the best approach is to stay away. If you feel that you are very strong, have some stature, and can exercise discernment and remain unaffected no matter what anyone says, that no matter how severe the negativity they vent is, it will not change your faith in God, that you can discern such people, and that you can also expose and stop them when they vent negativity—then you do not need to avoid or guard against such people. But if you feel that you do not have such stature, the way and principle to deal with such people is to stay away from them. Is this easy to achieve? (Yes.) Some people say, “Can I tolerate them, endure them, and forgive them?” That’s also fine, and it’s not wrong, but it’s not the most crucial or the best practice. Say that you endure, tolerate, and indulge them, and in the end, you are misled by them and drawn over to their side. And suppose that no matter how God’s house provisions and supports you, you don’t feel it; or that when you read God’s words, you are often swayed by their thoughts and remarks, and as soon as you think of something they said, your mind is affected, and you aren’t able to continue reading. And when the brothers and sisters fellowship their understanding of the truth—especially when they fellowship about discerning such people’s remarks—you are again swayed and affected by their words, causing your mind to be in disarray. If this is the case, then you should stay away from such people. Your tolerance and endurance will be ineffective, and are not the best way to defend against such people. Say that your tolerance and endurance are not a disguised, external behavior, but rather you actually do have enough stature to face such people. No matter what they say, even if you don’t speak up, you can still discern them in your heart; you are able to exercise forbearance toward them and ignore them, but any adverse, negative words or words of misunderstanding and complaint about God they say will not affect your faith in God in the slightest, nor will it affect your loyalty in doing your duty or your submission to God. In that case, you may tolerate and endure them. What is the principle of practicing tolerance and endurance? Not being harmed. Ignore them, let them say whatever they want—after all, such people are just unreasonable troublemakers, and they are shamelessly stubborn. No matter how you fellowship the truth with them, they will not accept it; they belong to the category of devils and Satans, and it is useless to fellowship with them. Therefore, before God’s house clears out and deals with them, if you have the stature to tolerate and endure them without being harmed, that is best. Do you usually adopt this principle of tolerance and endurance? You put up with all kinds of people, but sometimes you’re not careful and get misled a bit; afterward you become aware of it, feel indebted to God, pray for a couple of days, and turn your state around, and you get closer to God. Most of the time, you can clearly see that such people are no good, and that they belong to the category of devils. Although you can interact with them normally, you are inwardly distant and repelled by them. No matter what they say or what negative remarks and views they voice, you turn a deaf ear, ignoring it, and think, “Say whatever you want. I can discern you. I simply don’t associate with people like you.” Is this the principle you follow most of the time when dealing with such matters? Achieving this is also not bad; it’s not easy and requires understanding some truths and having a certain stature. If you don’t even have this level of stature, then you won’t be able to stand firm, and you won’t do your duty well.

4. Venting Negativity When One’s Desire to Gain Blessings Is Destroyed

Venting negativity has another manifestation. Some people say, “I have believed in God for so many years, and what have I gained?” When such people vent negativity, the main thing they say is, “What have I gained?”—meaning they haven’t gained anything. They believe that it is particularly hard to get some benefits or blessings from God’s house or from God while believing in Him, and that people must offer tremendous love and have incredible endurance, and not be eager for quick results. As for God’s words that expose people, prune people, refine people, and cleanse people’s corruption, they believe this is just superficial, high-sounding rhetoric that cannot be trusted absolutely; they think that if they practice according to God’s words, they will really suffer a great loss. They think that obtaining benefits and advantages and realizing their aspirations and wishes is the most crucial thing at all times, and whether they practice the truth or not isn’t crucial at all—they believe that as long as they do not commit evil, that’s enough, and they won’t be eliminated by the church. How do most people feel after hearing these negative words? Do they internally approve of and agree with these words, or do they feel some contempt for these words, and think that these people are selfish, despicable, wicked, and sordid, and can discern, expose, and restrict them, stopping them from continuing to spread negativity and death? Do most people feel repulsed and condemn such negative words, or can they be misled by them and become negative? Some people, after hearing these words and seeing that they are empty-handed, think, “Isn’t that true! I haven’t gained anything either. In God’s house, I just get three meals a day, I’m busy all the time, and I really haven’t gained anything else.” Do you have such thoughts? Do you feel the same way? Those who understand the truth will say, “What do you mean you haven’t gained anything? We have gained so much from God! We’ve come to understand so many truths!” But some people might disagree with them, saying, “It doesn’t seem very realistic to say we’ve gained ‘so much.’ We’ve just received a bit of grace, got some opportunities to do our duties, understood some doctrines about how to be a person, met and got to know many brothers and sisters from different places, and broadened our horizons a lot. This only counts as having gained a bit.” Which of these categories do you fall into? There are people in all these categories, right? (Yes.) We’ll discuss this from two angles. First, let’s talk about what’s going on with those who believe in God always for the sake of gaining grace—do they believe in God in order to pursue gaining the truth so that they may attain salvation? (No, they believe for the sake of gaining blessings.) Then, has God given them little grace, protection, kindness, enlightenment, and illumination? (God has given them a lot of these things.) It can be said that every person who believes in God has received God’s protection. Is God’s protection concrete? Are there some real-life examples of this? What kinds of protection have people received? (A relatively obvious kind is that after believing in God, we are no longer influenced by the wicked trends of the world. We don’t fall into decadence or pursue those wicked things, like going to nightclubs, smoking, drinking, and so on. At the very least, we don’t get involved with these things and I believe we are quite protected in this regard.) This is a very tangible aspect that people can see and personally experience. Not being influenced and misled by the wicked trends of the world, living like a human, and living within normal humanity with the likeness of a human being—this is a practical example and evidence of God’s protection. Are there more? (Not being disturbed by evil spirits and being able to live under God’s protection.) This is also a practical example. Have most people had this experience? Can you apprehend the meaning within this? Some people say, “Nonbelievers aren’t disturbed by evil spirits either. How many nonbelievers are disturbed by evil spirits?” Is this statement correct? Do you feel this statement aligns with the facts? (Quite a few of my classmates have been disturbed by evil spirits. Some experience sleep paralysis, and others hear voices. They do not believe in God and do not know what is happening. They seek treatment everywhere but cannot cure this, they live in fear and dread; it’s agonizing. However, because I have believed in God since childhood, I have never been disturbed or suffered in this way. Most of the time, my heart feels relatively steady and at peace.) True believers in God do not have this concern. We do not worry about being afflicted with conversion disorder or about being disturbed or possessed by evil spirits; we are not afraid because we have God. Additionally, in real life, nonbelievers constantly talk about face-reading, feng shui, and fortune-telling—in the West, there is even astrology. Some people worship famous Buddhist statues, evil spirits, and idols, and some don’t, but whether they do or not, they are all influenced and restricted by these things to some extent. For example, before leaving the house, they must perform a bit of divination to see which direction is auspicious and which is inauspicious. When opening a shop, they determine which position for the counter will bring in money and which will not, what things to place in the shop and which idols to worship to attract wealth, and where to place certain things to avoid disrupting the feng shui. When moving, they must determine the auspicious time to move to ensure the family’s future prosperity and avoid mishaps, and determine which times are inauspicious. Even students are influenced by these beliefs when they take entrance examinations. On the day of the exam, they avoid saying words implying failure, and must say words like “excel” and “success” instead. Every single aspect of life—from children attending school, to parents living their daily lives, making money, moving house, seeking employment, as well as children’s marriages, and so on—is influenced by so-called feng shui and fortune, among other ideas. So, when people are influenced by these things, what are they being restricted by? They are being restricted by evil spirits; all these things are controlled by evil spirits. Then why do people worship those evil spirits? Why are they influenced by these things? For such a simple matter as moving, why must people always ponder over what time is auspicious to move and what time isn’t, what is auspicious to move first, and what is auspicious not to move? Why do they always have to consider these things? They must consider them because if they don’t, the evil spirits will act, tormenting and torturing them. What do you see from these matters? All of humankind lives under the control of the evil ones. Who are the evil ones? The greater evil ones are Satan and devils, and the lesser evil ones are the evil spirits in different places, the ones that control different races of people. Every aspect of human life is restricted and controlled by these evil spirits. Even when constructing a house, during the installation of the main beam, people hang red cloth and set off firecrackers for a bit of good luck, and the construction workers all wear red clothes to bring about financial prosperity, and to avoid accidents. There are some particular requirements and sayings about all these things, as well as taboos, and they must avoid the taboos and follow these sayings. For instance, some people often face hardships and things don’t go smoothly for them—they lose their jobs, their wives leave them, and they have nothing left at home. They can’t even pay back their house mortgages, and nothing seems to go right. They haven’t done anything bad, so why do these things happen to them? With no other options, they resort to worshiping false gods and evil spirits, or urgently seek someone to check their feng shui to change their luck, and after doing so, things gradually start to go well for them. They didn’t believe in these things before, but now when problems arise, they sincerely worship false gods and evil spirits, and before they do anything they must consult divination or fortune-telling. Is living like this exhausting or what? (Yes.) It’s downright tiring! Though they want to, they can’t live freely and at ease, or escape the constraints of these sayings and rules. If they break these rules, the evil spirits act and disturb them, and they are forcibly subdued by those evil spirits, and must worship them daily in order for their lives to go smoothly. However, those who believe in God are not confined by these feudal superstitions or the workings of evil spirits. They can move house or go as they please, without having to avoid any taboos. In mainland China, the Communist Party always oppresses and persecutes religious beliefs. If a believer can no longer live in a place, they must move quickly—do they need to choose an auspicious day or hour for this or worship something? No. They pray to God, and God protects them. Everything is in God’s hands—they are not bound by these things. Whenever they want to eat something or leave the house, do they need to consult the almanac or see whether it violates a taboo? No, they pray to God, and everything is in God’s hands. When people live under God’s dominion and sovereignty, with God’s protection and guidance, evil spirits and filthy demons, both great and small, are kept out of the way; they dare not act upon those who believe in God. Aren’t these people protected? Aren’t they living freely and easily? (Yes.) Is this grace great? (Yes.) No matter whether you have gained the truth yet or not, as long as you are a person who sincerely believes in God, you are someone predestined and selected by God, and when you come before God, He protects you like this, allowing you to enjoy such grace. What immense grace this is! Your personal safety and all your movements are kept safe and secure, God takes responsibility for these things and protects them, so you need not worry. Most of the time, people don’t even pray or consciously think to themselves, “I’ll pray to God, and ask God to protect me. I hope everything is fine and nothing bad happens.” You don’t even need to pray. As long as you have the simple conviction in your heart that, “I believe in God; everything is in God’s hands,” God will act. People enjoy such immense grace from God—is this gaining a little? (It’s gaining quite a lot.) God is the one and only Sovereign in the world. Your life and everything you own are in God’s hands, in the hands of this Sovereign, your heart feels peaceful, steady, and calm, and you need not worry about anything. No matter how much knowledge you have about God or how many truths you understand, you can be absolutely certain of this in your heart. Everything is in God’s hands. If believers in God have a place for Him in their hearts and understand the truth, evil spirits dare not disturb, damage, or come near them. Consequently, believers do not need to engage in those unnecessary processes. This is such an immense grace—how can you still say that you have gained nothing from believing in God? Aren’t you lacking in conscience? Without looking at anything else, just claiming to have gained nothing alone proves one’s utter lack of conscience, and it proves that one’s conscience is thoroughly bad; nothing more needs to be said about the rest.

God freely gives people the truth and life, providing His words to people without asking for anything in return. Although people may feel that their stature is still immature, that they haven’t understood much of the truth, and that they cannot express clearly the little they do understand, just these things God has given them, this affection and love—what immense grace this is! God has given people the most precious things; people have received the most valuable things in the world from God. Whether you have felt it or not, God has already given these to man. What do people still have to complain about? Are they worthy of receiving these things? Those selected by God are the happiest people in the world. You have been selected and chosen by God; you are one of the happiest and luckiest people in the world. How can you say that you have gained nothing? You have become one of the happiest and luckiest people because God has selected and chosen you, and thus, evil spirits and filthy demons dare not come near you. Some people ask, “Does that mean my status and identity have become honorable?” Can this be said? It cannot, because this is all due to God’s love and God’s actions. People have gained so much! Just in this life alone, people have gained so much; how are people at all qualified to receive all this? Some who believe in God do not pursue the truth at all and still keep saying, “What have I gained from many years of believing in God?” Can’t you calculate it yourself? You know in your heart whether you understand the truth, how much less evil you have committed, and even more so, you know in your heart how much grace you have enjoyed. If in your heart you are clear on these points, you would not say things that are so lacking in conscience. Some also say, “God’s house provides my food, clothing, and shelter too.” Isn’t this very minor compared to God’s grace and protection? Isn’t this not even worth mentioning? However, those with conscience feel that although it’s not worth mentioning, it is still part of God’s grace. God’s grace is immeasurable; God has given so much to people! As for those material things, from God’s perspective, He doesn’t even count them.

One aspect of God’s actions is to protect people, and another is to lead them onto the path of salvation so that they can be saved. People have enjoyed this affection of God and His love for them, and God has bestowed upon them abundant grace! Additionally, there is something that is the most important: the truth that God has bestowed upon people, namely, words that no one in human history, in any age, ever heard or received. Regardless of how many times God has created humanity, He has never done this work or spoken these words. All the mysteries related to humanity, what people can bear, grasp, and understand—God has told you all of it. Can these mysteries, these truths, be measured by any amount? They cannot be measured; people cannot exhaust their enjoyment over many lifetimes. Why do I say this? It’s because these words from God are the foundation for people’s existence, and they can exist for eternity. If you really are fortunate enough to survive and live for eternity, then these words and truths from God can provide for you eternally. What is the meaning of eternity? It means not being limited by time, it means being boundless. If we interpret it literally, it means not having an end—living on eternally, just like God Himself. These words and truths from God can exist until that time. “That time” is a concept and definition of time expressed in human language, but it really means indefinitely. Tell Me, is the value of these words from God great or not? It’s incredibly great! If you don’t pursue them, then it’s your loss; it’s you being foolish. But if you pursue them, these words hold a value for you that goes far beyond just this lifetime; it extends into eternity. They will always be effective and useful for you, and they will have value and meaning forever, providing for you eternally. If you understand these words, obtain them, and live by them, you will be able to live eternally. To put it in simpler terms, you will live forever without tasting death. Isn’t this something that people dream of? Countless ages will have passed, countless people will have died, but you will still remain alive. By what means will you remain alive? It is through God’s words, through the truth, that you will have the qualifications to live on like this. What are you going to do with this continuous life? You have God’s commission, God’s leadership, and you also have a mission. What is your mission? By means of you living out His words, God wants you to glorify Him and be His testimony. This is the value of God’s words. The value and significance of the truth and words that people hear, come into contact with, and experience in this age will exist for eternity. Why will they exist for eternity? These words of God are not a theology, theory, slogan, or a kind of knowledge, but the words of life. As long as you obtain these words, live by them, and survive by them, God will permit you to keep on living and not let you die. That is, He will not destroy you or take away your life—He will let you go on living. Isn’t this a great blessing? (Yes, it is great.) Through these words God wants you to have a foretaste of this blessing in this life and obtain it in the world to come. This is God’s promise. Considering the immense promise God has given to humanity, have people received a lot? (Yes.) God has made such a great promise to humanity, making it known to all. He has told you about it, allowing you to come and take it freely. You do not need to sacrifice your life or hand over all of your possessions; you only need to listen to God’s words, and act according to God’s requirements and His desires, and you can receive this promise from God. Hasn’t God given a lot to humanity? You are currently on the path to obtaining this promise: Though you haven’t fully received it yet, have you received little? Looking at the promise God has bestowed on humanity, people have received quite a lot. They have gained a significant advantage; they haven’t lost out or suffered any losses at all. They’ve only invested a bit of time, and their flesh might have endured some toil. They may have sacrificed some family happiness, personal fleshly likes and desires, given up some of their own aspirations, interests, and wishes, etc. However, compared to understanding the truth, attaining salvation, and receiving God’s promise, all those personal prospects, goals, and aspirations are not worth mentioning, because they can only lead you to hell, and God won’t grant you His promise for those things. Conversely, when people invest a limited amount of time, a price they are willing and capable of paying, ultimately they come to understand the truth, grasp some mysteries and principles for being a person not understood by humanity since God’s creation, understand certain essences and origins of all events and things, etc. Even more importantly, they gain some knowledge about God and are able to fear Him. Having obtained all of this, isn’t it worth it to pay such a price? What grievances do people have? Why do they say they gain nothing from believing in God? Hasn’t their conscience become utterly rotten? They’ve gained so much, and they’re still not content. What more do they want? Would they be satisfied if they were made a president or a billionaire? If God were to give them those things, then they wouldn’t belong to Him. God doesn’t want to gain people like this.

People always say they’ve gained nothing from believing in God, which shows they lack conscience, lack any ability to comprehend the truth, do not pursue the truth, and are of exceptionally low character. Such people have no pure comprehension of what God does, what God requires of people, and what God has bestowed on people, among other things. Eventually, when things happen to make them slightly displeased, the abundant anger they’ve pent up instantly explodes: “What have I gained from believing in God? My flesh has suffered so much. I have done whatever duties the church assigned to me. No matter how hard or tiring, I have never complained; no matter how great the difficulties, I never said anything. I have never made any demands of God’s house. With my great love and great loyalty, what have I gained? If even I gain nothing, others have even less hope of gaining anything!” The implication is: “You have not offered as much as I have, you have not paid the price I have; if even I have gained nothing, what can you gain? You all need to be careful; don’t be foolish!” Don’t such people lack a conscience? A conscienceless person always speaks foolish and pigheaded words. They cannot comprehend a single one of all the many truths spoken by God, or of all the many pure and positive things and statements, instead they stubbornly cling to their own viewpoints: “I endure hardships and pay a price for God, so God must bless me, and must allow me to gain more than others. If not, I will vent, I will explode, I will hurl curses! Whatever I want, God must grant to me, and if I don’t get it, then God is not righteous, and I will say I have gained nothing—this is speaking the plain truth!” Don’t they lack humanity? The words of someone lacking humanity certainly cannot stand firm, let alone conform to the truth; the latter is a bit too much to ask of them. The words one speaks must be legitimate requests, legitimate statements, not twisted arguments; they must stand firm, no matter who listens to or who appraises them. However, the words and actions of people with poor humanity cannot stand firm. When they throw tantrums and vent their grievances, some people think, “Why do they say they have gained nothing? Could it be that God’s house has wronged them somehow? Is it that some of the actions of God’s house do not accord with principles and cannot be brought to light? That person seems quite capable of enduring hardships and paying a price usually, but today they have erupted so fiercely, saying they have gained nothing; it seems they really have gained nothing. Isn’t this provoking a well-behaved person to anger? I’d better be careful then; I shouldn’t endure such hardship or pay such a price as I previously have when doing my duties!” This is how some muddled people who lack discernment become influenced.

For people who often vent negativity, if they really have viewpoints or ideas to express, let them speak first and expose their views. After they have, everyone will understand: “They feel that the price they paid doesn’t square with what they gained. They feel that they haven’t gained any benefits and that they’ve suffered losses, so they’ve grown unwilling. They are complaining about God, hoping to bargain with God, demanding grace and benefits!” Can the average person discern such a person once they’ve heard them speak? Once everyone is able to discern them, say to the person, “Have you finished speaking? If you have nothing more to say, then shut up, or you’ll make a fool of yourself. If your wicked nature is exposed in front of everyone and not promptly reined in, it will incite public outrage. When everyone exposes and rejects you, it will be too late for regrets.” Warn them in this way, and by doing so, you’ll have restricted them. Or, you could also say: “If you feel you’ve lost out, you don’t have to believe in God. You feel you haven’t gained anything, so what is it you want to gain, exactly? If it’s to make a fortune and become wealthy, or to hold high office, then I’m sorry, but these aren’t things one can obtain just because they want to; these are matters ordained by God. God’s appearance and His work of man’s salvation aren’t about giving people these things. Go wherever you can get them; God’s house is not the world, it can’t satisfy devils and Satans. You’d better not demand such things from God’s house, nor from the brothers and sisters; if you dare ask God for these things, then you will offend His disposition and provoke His anger. This is because God has granted plenty of grace to people, and He has bestowed even more truths on people to be their lives. That you don’t view gaining the truth as precious is your being foolish and ignorant.” Everyone reproaches and prunes them like this. What do you think of this practice? Or, you can say: “God’s house doesn’t owe you anything. Your expenditure for God and performance of your duties were all voluntary. Do you know how much grace you have enjoyed from God since you began believing in Him and doing duties? If you have any conscience at all, you shouldn’t tell God that you have gained nothing; you should come before God and recognize your own problems. If you truly believe that God is the truth, that everything God does is the truth and His words are the truth, then you shouldn’t be saying that; you shouldn’t be complaining. Your current attitude is not one that someone who believes in God should have, nor is it the attitude that someone seeking the truth should have. You’re trying to revolt, to rehash your old problems with God! You’re trying to part ways with God, to settle the final account! But God owes you nothing, and neither does God’s house. If you are going to settle accounts with God’s house, then hurry up and leave His house. Do not pester God’s house, or else you’ll provoke His wrath and He’ll strike you down. That wouldn’t be a great consequence. If you have any conscience or reason, you should calm down to pray and seek, to see whether there is anything wrong with your perspective on pursuit in your belief in God, and whether the path you’re on is the one that God requires you to walk. You have so many unreasonable demands toward God, such great resentment; this indicates that something’s gone wrong with your pursuit. You didn’t build up such deep resentment in just a day or two; it’s been building for a long time. Or maybe you’ve been coming before God with a wrong viewpoint in mind since you started believing in Him, and whatever He’s said, you’ve been numb, and as a result you feel no remorse or indebtedness whatsoever. Maybe that’s what led to things being as they are today. You’d better hurry to confess and repent; there’s time yet to repent. If you don’t, and continue to do evil and vent negativity, then you will become a devil, an antichrist. When God’s house clears you out, you will no longer have any chance of being saved—what’s condemned by God’s house is also condemned by God. We are giving you this warning in consideration of your ability to endure hardship and pay a price over the many years you have believed in God. We’re giving you a chance. If you insist on your own way and refuse to listen to advice, and God’s house decides to clear you out, you will then be a brother or sister no longer. You will have zero hope of being saved. When that time comes, you really will have gained nothing. Don’t be regretful then. What is most crucial for you now is to turn your thoughts, viewpoints, and the direction of your pursuit around. Don’t always be seeking to gain something anymore. Listen to God’s words; see how much of what God exposes of people’s corrupt dispositions you can reflect on and know in yourself. Have you resolved the problems you can identify in yourself, the ones you can see clearly? Have you recognized your rebellion against God? Have you resolved it? The biggest problem you face now is always wanting to settle accounts with God—what is this problem? Is this not a problem that needs to be resolved? You believe in God always with some intent, with a transaction in mind; you’re always eager to gain blessings, hoping to exchange effort, expenditure, and fleshly suffering for the blessings of the kingdom of heaven—isn’t this the logic of a bandit? Why don’t you take a look at what kind of people God bestows blessings on, what God’s requirements for people are, what God has said to people, and what people need to achieve to receive God’s promises? If you truly believe in God and truly want to be saved, then don’t always try to gain something from God. You need to look at how much of God’s words you have put into practice, at whether you are a person who follows God’s words. To follow God’s words is to practice and live according to God’s requirements and the truth principles, not merely to suffer a bit physically and pay a small price. Your corrupt disposition is unresolved, and there are intentions to all the prices you pay and all the hardships you undergo. God does not approve of this; He does not want such a price. If you insist on settling accounts with God, if you insist on arguing and contending with God, then you are offending His disposition, and He will let you have your way, down to hell to be punished. This is the retribution for doing evil. You have enjoyed many blessings and graces from God, and He’s given you some special material treatment. You have already received what you should have—what more do you want from God?” If you fellowshipped these words, wouldn’t the aggrieved mood of a person with a bit of conscience and reason subside a bit to hear them? Are these words of pure comprehension that accord with the truth? (Yes.) If a person has humanity and reason, they can understand and accept them. Only those without humanity, those who are without conscience and reason, would think that these words are trying to trick them, that they’re high-sounding rhetoric, unworthy of belief, and that they aren’t as tangibly beneficial as visible grace or material blessings. So, before they see those tangible benefits, whatever you say is useless; they will not accept it. They might not oppose it to your face, but behind your back, they’ll still keep resisting in their hearts, venting negativity from time to time, showcasing their own contributions, counting up the hardships they have endured, as well as how God’s house treats them, how they endure God’s house—they always keep these things in their hearts. Whatever happens to them, as long as they don’t receive what they desire, their beastliness bursts forth, they explode in fury, exposing their disgraceful behavior, and they vent negativity. Should you still try to persuade such a person? If, after a simple urging, they still exhibit the same character, their old problems return, and their devilishness flares up again, what should be done? It’s then time to impose restrictions. Don’t leave them a chance to repent. They are like rotten timber; they’re foolish, stubborn wretches. In what sense are they “foolish, stubborn wretches”? In the sense that they do not accept the pure way and do not accept positive things. Instead, they embrace twisted arguments, heresies, and fallacies, clinging to their own viewpoints of gaining tangible benefits, taking advantage, and not suffering losses. No matter how God’s house fellowships the truth, they always say, “Those are all nice-sounding words. Who can’t say a few nice things? If you lost out, you wouldn’t be saying that.” They stubbornly cling to such views, and when something displeasing happens or they take a loss, they feel they haven’t gained anything from believing in God, and they’ll vent negativity again. Should they still be given a chance? No more chances. If they do not do their duties well, disturbing others instead, stop and restrict them right away. Do not allow them to speak freely. If they continue to spread negativity and disturb others, show them no more courtesy. Clear them out with haste. This isn’t being unloving, is it? (No.) The truth has been spoon-fed to them in fellowship, but they cannot take it in, no matter how it’s fellowshipped—what does this indicate? On the surface, this person seems to be a disbeliever, but in essence, they are a devil. They’ve come to God’s house to ask for grace and blessings from God, to gain benefits, and they will not rest until they gain them. If they haven’t gained any benefits after believing for a while, their satanic dispositions will erupt; they will pour out their dissatisfaction with God, commit evil, and cause disturbances. This is a devil. The bit of suffering and expenditure they’ve undertaken are fundamentally not the practice of God’s words. They’re purely about making a deal, about gaining benefits and blessings for themselves. When things befall those who always want to gain something from their belief in God, and they are negative and weak, they always say, “I’ve gained nothing from believing in God.” Then, they give up and begin to act recklessly, seek to retaliate, and often vent negativity to pour out their emotions of dissatisfaction. We’ve already fellowshipped how to treat such people: They should be handled according to principles. If they can accept the truth and guarantee that they won’t cause more disturbances in the future, they can be given another chance to remain in the church. If they’re always out to disturb and damage the work and life of the church, then cleanse them away. This is to protect the work of the church and ensure that God’s chosen people can live church life undisturbed. This decision is made and this method is adopted based on this principle. It’s appropriate.

In church life, who else is prone to venting negativity? Some people do their duty without results, always slipping up; they do not self-reflect but always feel that God is not righteous or fair, that God always treats others graciously and not them, that God looks down on them, and never enlightens them, and that’s why no results ever come of their performance of their duty, and they’re never able to reach their goal of standing out and being esteemed. They grow blameful of God in their hearts, and as they do, jealousy, disgust, and hatred arise in them toward those who do their duties loyally. What sort of humanity do such people have? Are they not petty-minded? And besides that, don’t they fail to understand how to pursue the truth in their faith in God? They do not understand what believing in God is. They think that believing in God and doing a duty is like testing into university as a student, always needing to compare scores and rankings. So, they put great importance on these things. Isn’t that their state? First of all, from the perspective of comprehending the truth, do such people have spiritual understanding? They do not, and they don’t understand what it is to believe in God and pursue the truth. For one thing, they place great importance on their ranking among others; for another, they always use a scoring method to evaluate how well others do their duties and how well they do themselves, just as if they were assessing students in school, measuring people’s belief in God and performance of their duties with this method. Isn’t there something wrong with this? Additionally, isn’t the effortful way in which they do their duties wrong? Don’t they do their duties with the effort of study and test-taking? (Yes.) Why do we say so? Do such people understand how to seek the principles when believing in God and doing their duties? Are they able to seek the principles? In one aspect, they do not know how to seek the principles. How people should read God’s words, how to fellowship the truth, and how to properly do their duties—they do not understand these matters, nor do they care about them. They only know they have to find principles and act according to them, but with what the principles stipulate, what God requires, or how others act according to the principles, they lack understanding. They just don’t get it. And in another aspect, are they able to evaluate the performance of a duty based on God’s standards for measuring whether people’s performance of their duty is up to standard, and the principles that He requires of people in doing their duty? Can they understand these matters from God’s words and the fellowship of the brothers and sisters? First of all, they do not understand God’s words, nor do they understand matters of doing a duty. After they start believing in God and doing duties, they ponder: “When I was in school, I discovered a rule: As long as you’re willing to work hard and study more, you can achieve high scores. So, I’ll do the same in my faith in God. I’ll read God’s words more and pray more. While others are chatting or eating, I’ll learn hymns and memorize God’s words. With such effort, God will surely bless me, in light of my hard work, diligence, and industriousness, and my performance of duty will definitely be fruitful. I’m sure to score high among others, and I’ll be valued and promoted.” Yet, despite doing so, they still cannot achieve their wishes: “Why am I still less effective than others in doing my duty? How am I ever going to be promoted or used for important tasks? Doesn’t this mean there’s no hope? I was born competitive, unwilling to lag behind others. That’s how I was in school, and that’s how I still am, in my belief in God. Anyone who surpasses me, I’m determined to outdo them. I won’t rest until I do!” They believe that with the right method and approach—just bringing the effort of hard study to bear on reading more of God’s words and learning more hymns; not engaging in idle chatter; not focusing on dressing up; sleeping less and enjoying themselves less; subduing their body; and not indulging in fleshly comforts—they will then be able to receive God’s blessings, and they’re sure to achieve results in doing their duty. However, things always turn out differently than they expected: “Why do I still always make mistakes in doing my duty, and why can I still not do it as well as others? Others do things quickly and well, and the leader always praises and esteems them. I’ve endured so much suffering and hardship. Why am I still not achieving results?” As they ponder this, they finally make a significant discovery: “It turns out God is unrighteous. I’ve believed in God for so long, and only now do I see it! God is gracious to whomever He wants to be. So, why doesn’t He want to be gracious to me? Is it because I’m stupid, because flattery and eloquence are beyond me, because I’m not quick-witted? Or is it because I look too ordinary, and I’m not very educated? This is God revealing me, isn’t it? I have read so many of God’s words—why isn’t God gracious to me, but revealing me instead?” As they think about it, they become negative: “I don’t want to do my duty anymore. I haven’t been blessed by God while doing my duty, and I’ve read more of God’s words, but He hasn’t enlightened me. It’s said in God’s words: God is gracious to whomever He wants to be and shows mercy to whomever He will. I’m not someone to whom God shows mercy or is gracious. Why should I suffer this torment?” The more they think, the more negative they become, and the less they feel they have a way forward. They feel suffocated by their grievances, and they no longer want to do their duty; and when doing their duty, they just go through the motions. However others fellowship the principles, it doesn’t get through to them. There’s no reaction inside them. When they are in this kind of condition, do they have any life entry? Do they have any loyalty in doing their duty? Not anymore, and the little effort and diligence they once had are gone, too. So, what’s left in their hearts? “I’ll just make plans as I go, and take things as they come. God might reveal and eliminate me any day now, giving up on me. When the day comes when I’m not allowed to do my duty, I won’t do it. I know I’m not good enough. God may not have eliminated me yet, but I know He doesn’t like me. It’s only a matter of time until I’m eliminated.” These thoughts and views arise in their hearts, and when they interact with others, such remarks occasionally slip out: “Go on believing earnestly, you all. Your faith and performance of your duties are bound to be blessed by God. I’m hopeless. I’m at the end of my road. No matter how diligent or hardworking I am, it’s no use. If God doesn’t like someone, no amount of effort they put in is of any use. I do my duty by putting in effort as I’m able; if there’s nowhere for my efforts to go, there’s nothing to be done about it. Can God compel people to do what’s beyond them? God can’t force a cat to talk!” What’s being said here? The implication is: “This is just how I am. No matter how God treats me, this will be my attitude.” Tell Me, why would someone with such an attitude and intent still want to receive God’s blessings? Can this state and this attitude they’ve developed influence others? They can easily have a negative and detrimental influence, leading others into negativity and weakness. Isn’t this misleading and harming others? People with such a degree of negativity belong to the category of devils, don’t they? Devils never love the truth.

Some people don’t vent their negativity in lengthy discourses; they simply utter a few phrases: “You are all better than me. You are all greatly blessed. I’m hopeless. No matter how hard I try, it’s useless. I have no hope of receiving God’s blessings.” Although the words are simple and seem unproblematic, sounding as though they are examining themselves, dissecting themselves, and accepting facts like their own poor caliber and shortcomings, in actuality, they are venting a kind of invisible negativity. These words carry sarcasm and mockery, as well as resistance, and of course, even more so, they carry dissatisfaction with God, along with a negative and downcast mood. These negative words might be few, but this mood, like a contagious disease, can affect others. Although they do not explicitly say, “I no longer wish to do my duties, I have no hope of salvation, and you are all in danger too,” they send a signal that makes people feel that if this individual, despite their efforts, has no hope of salvation, then those who do not try are even less likely to have hope. By transmitting this signal, they are telling everyone, “Hope is important. If God does not give you hope, if God does not bless you, then no matter how much effort you apply, it’s all in vain.” After most people accept this signal, their faith in God deep inside cannot help but wane, and the loyalty and sincerity they should demonstrate when doing their duties are greatly diminished. Although they vent this negativity without a clear intention to mislead or draw people over to their side, this negative mood quickly affects others, making them feel a crisis, feeling that their efforts are easily wasted; it makes people live within their feelings, using feelings to speculate about God, and analyzing and scrutinizing God’s attitude and sincerity toward humans based on superficial appearances. When this negative mood is transmitted to others, they can’t help but distance themselves from God and misunderstand and doubt what God has said, no longer believing in His words. At the same time, they no longer have sincerity toward their duties; they are unwilling to pay a price, and unwilling to have any loyalty. This is the impact of these negative remarks on people. What is the consequence of this impact? After hearing these words, people do not gain edification, much less do they achieve self-knowledge, discover their shortcomings, or become able to practice the truth and do their duties according to principles—they gain none of these positive results. Instead, this impact makes people become more negative, think about giving up the pursuit of the truth, and no longer have the resolve to do their duties. Why have they lost faith? (They feel that they have no hope of salvation.) Right, they have accepted this message and feel they have no hope of salvation, so they are unwilling to make an effort to do their duties. This behavior shows that they are not sincerely pursuing the truth but always judging whether God is pleased with them, whether they have hope of salvation, and whether God approves of their performance of their duties based on feelings, moods, and conjecture. When people judge these things based on conjecture, they don’t have much motivation to practice the truth. Why is this? Can people accurately judge God when they judge Him based on conjecture? Can people accurately make conjectures about every thought and idea God has? (No.) People’s minds are full of deceitfulness, transactions, philosophies for worldly dealings, Satan’s logic, and so on. What are the consequences of people making conjectures about God based on these things? It leads to doubting God, distancing oneself from God, and even a complete loss of faith in God. When a person completely loses faith in God, a big question mark will inevitably be placed in their heart about whether God exists. At that time, their time as a believer in God will end—they are thoroughly ruined. Additionally, is it correct for people to make conjectures about God? Is this the attitude a created being should have toward the Creator? Clearly, it is not. People should not make conjectures about God, nor should they speculate about God’s thinking or His thoughts about humans. This in itself is wrong; people have assumed an incorrect perspective and position.

People should not treat God with conjecture, speculation, doubt, or suspicion, nor should they judge Him based on human thoughts and viewpoints, philosophies for worldly dealings, or academic knowledge. So, how should people treat God? First, people should believe that God is the truth. God’s requirements for people, His intentions toward them, His love and hatred for people, and His arrangements, thoughts, and ideas for various kinds of people, and so on, do not require your speculation; these matters have clear explanations and clear meanings in God’s words. You need only to believe, seek, and then practice according to God’s words—that’s how simple it is. God does not ask you to judge what He intends to do with you or how He views you based on feelings. So, you think that you have no hope of salvation—is this a feeling or a fact? Did God’s words say so? (No.) Then, what do God’s words say? God tells people how to seek the truth for solutions and find the path to practice the truth whenever they face any problem or reveal corrupt dispositions. This confirms one thing: It is true that God wants to save people and transform their corrupt dispositions; God is not deceiving you, and this is not empty talk. You think you have no hope of salvation, but that is just a momentary mood, a feeling produced under a certain environment. Your feelings do not represent God’s desires or intentions, much less His thoughts, and they do not represent the truth either. Therefore, if you live by this feeling, if you make conjectures about God based on this feeling, using your feeling to replace God’s desires, then you are greatly mistaken and have fallen into Satan’s trap. What should one do in this situation? Do not rely on feelings. Some people say, “If we shouldn’t rely on feelings, what should we rely on?” Relying on anything of yours is useless; human feelings do not represent the truth. Who knows how your feeling was generated, where it really came from—if it was produced by being misled by Satan, then it’s troublesome. In any case, no matter how the feeling came about, it does not represent the truth. The more intense someone’s feelings and intuitions are, the more they need to seek the truth, to come before God and self-reflect. Human feelings, and facts and the truth, are two different things. Can feelings provide you with the truth? Can they bring you a path of practice? They cannot. Only God’s words, only the truth, can bring you a path of practice, can bring you a turnaround, and open a way out. Therefore, what you should practice is not to seek out your own feelings—your feelings are not important. What you should do is come before God to seek the truth, to understand God’s intentions through His words. The more you rely on feelings, then the more you find yourself without a way forward, the deeper you fall into negativity, and the more you believe that God is unfair, that God has not blessed you. On the contrary, if you set aside these feelings to seek the truth principles, to see which actions in the process of doing your duty have violated the truth principles, which actions were done according to your own will and are completely unrelated to the truth principles, then, in the process of seeking, you will discover that you have too much of your own will, too many imaginings. Just by applying this bit of earnestness, you will uncover many problems: “I am too rebellious, too willful, too arrogant! It’s not that I have no hope of salvation; my feelings are inaccurate. It’s that I did not take God’s words seriously, and that I did not practice according to the truth principles. I always complain that God does not bless me, does not guide me, and is partial, but actually I did not recognize that I am perfunctory, willful, and reckless in my performance of duty—this is my fault. Now I have realized, God does not show partiality. When people do not seek the truth or come before God, God is already being good to them by not revoking their qualification to perform a duty; God is already being very lenient in this regard. Yet, I still felt full of grievances, even contending and arguing with God. Before, I thought I was quite good, but now I see that that’s not true at all. Whatever I did was not based on principles; that God did not discipline me was His grace—He recognized my small stature!” Through such seeking, you will understand some truths and be able to take the initiative to actively practice according to the truth principles. Bit by bit, you will feel that you have some principles in being a person and in doing your duty. At this time, won’t you feel much more at peace in your conscience? “Before, I felt I had no hope of salvation, but now why has this feeling, this awareness, become increasingly faint? How is it that this state changed? Before, I thought I had no hope; wasn’t that just negativity and resistance, and fighting against God? I was much too rebellious!” After submitting, unknowingly, in the process of doing your duty, you will start to understand some principles, and you will no longer compare yourself with others; you will just focus on how to avoid perfunctoriness and how to do your duties according to principles. Unconsciously, you will no longer feel that you cannot be saved, and you will no longer be trapped in that negative state; you will do your duties according to principles, and feel that your relationship with God has become normal. When you have this feeling, you will think, “God has not abandoned me; I can feel God’s presence, and I can feel God’s guidance and blessings when I seek God while doing my duties. I finally feel that God blesses others and also blesses me, and that God does not show partiality; it seems I still have hope of salvation. It turns out that the path I walked before was wrong; I was always going through the motions and committing reckless misdeeds in doing my duty, and I even thought I was fine, living in my own little world and admiring myself. Now I see that doing so was a great mistake! Living entirely in a state of clamoring against and resisting God—no wonder I did not receive God’s enlightenment. How could I receive God’s enlightenment if I do not act according to principles?” You see, two entirely different ways of practicing, two entirely different ways of dealing with one’s own ideas, ultimately lead to different results.

People cannot live by their feelings in their belief in God. People’s feelings are just passing moods—do they have anything to do with their outcomes? With facts? (No.) When people stray far from God, when they live in a state of mind in which they misunderstand God, or resist, fight against, and clamor against God, then they have totally left the care and protection of God, and no longer have a place for God in their hearts. When people live in a state such as this, they can’t help but live by their own feelings. Some minor thought can so upset them that they can’t eat or sleep, a careless remark from someone can plunge them into guesswork and bewilderment, and even a single nightmare can make them negative and cause them to misunderstand God. Once this kind of vicious cycle has taken shape, people determine that it’s over for them, that they have lost all hope of being saved, that they have been forsaken by God, and that God will not save them. The more they think in this way, and the more they have such feelings, the more they are plunged into negativity. The actual reason why people have these feelings is because they do not seek the truth or practice according to the truth principles. When something happens to them, people do not seek the truth, do not practice the truth, and always go their own way, living amid their own petty cleverness. They spend each day comparing themselves to others and competing with them, envying and hating anyone whom they think is better than them, and jeering and mocking anyone whom they think is below them, living in the disposition of Satan, not doing things according to the truth principles, and refusing to accept anybody’s advice. This ultimately leads them to develop all kinds of delusions, speculations, and judgments, and they make themselves perpetually anxious. And do they not deserve this? Such bitter fruit can only be borne by themselves—and they truly deserve it. What causes all this? It is because people do not seek the truth, are too arrogant and self-righteous, they are always acting according to their own ideas, they are always showing off and comparing themselves to others, they are always trying to distinguish themselves, they are always making unreasonable demands of God, and so on—all of these things cause people to gradually stray from God, to resist God and violate the truth over and over again. Ultimately, they plunge themselves into darkness and negativity. And at such times, people do not have a true understanding of their own rebellion and opposition, much less is it possible for them to approach these things with the right attitude. Instead, they complain about God, misunderstand God, and speculate about Him. When this happens, people finally realize their corruption is very deep and that they are too troublesome, so they determine that they are of the kind that opposes God, and they can’t help but be plunged into negativity, unable to pull themselves out. What they believe is, “God spurns me, God doesn’t want me. I’m too rebellious, I deserve it, God definitely will not save me anymore.” They believe that these are all facts. They determine the guesses in their hearts to be facts. No matter who fellowships the truth with them, it is of no use, they don’t accept it. They think, “God will not bless me, He will not save me, so what’s the point in believing in God?” When the path of their belief in God has gotten to this point, are people still capable of believing? No. Why can they no longer go on? There is a fact here. When people’s negativity reaches a certain point that their hearts are filled with resistance and complaints, and they wish to sever their relationship with God once and for all, then it is no longer something so simple as them not fearing God, not submitting to God, not loving the truth, and not accepting the truth. What is it instead? In their hearts, they actively choose to give up their faith in God. They think it shameful to passively await being eliminated, and that there is more dignity in choosing to give up, so they take the initiative to forfeit their chance, bringing things to an end by themselves. They condemn faith in God as being bad, they condemn the truth as being unable to change people, and they condemn God as unrighteous, blaming Him for not saving them: “I’m so diligent, I suffer so much more hardship than others, and pay so much more of a price than everyone else, I do my duty sincerely, and still God has not blessed me. Now I see clearly that God does not like me, that God treats people unequally.” They have the gall to turn their doubts about God into condemnation of God and blasphemy against Him. When this fact takes shape, can they continue on the path of faith in God? Because they rebel against God and oppose God, and do not accept the truth or reflect on themselves at all, they are ruined. Is it not unreasonable for someone to abandon God on their own initiative and then complain that God does not bless them or show them grace? Everyone chooses their own path and walks it themselves; no one can do it for them. It is you who have chosen a dead end, you who have abandoned God and rejected Him. From beginning to end, God has never said He does not want you, or that He has given up on you, or that He refuses to save you; it is you who have delimited God based on your guesses. If you truly believed in God, and you would still believe in God even if He did not want you, and you would still believe in God, and continue to read His words, and still accept the truth and do your duties normally, even if He detested you, who then could restrict or stop you? Isn’t it all about your own choices and pursuits? You yourself lack faith yet turn around to blame God; this is being unreasonable. You do not maintain your relationship with God and insist on destroying it; once there is a rift, can it be restored? A broken mirror is hard to put back together, and even if it is put back together, the crack will still be there. Now that the relationship has broken down, it can never be restored to its original state. Thus, no matter what kind of environment they encounter in the course of believing in God, people should learn to submit and they should seek the truth—only then can they stand firm. If you want to follow God until the end of the road, it’s crucial to pursue the truth; whether in doing your duties or doing anything else, understanding the truth principles and practicing and implementing them is essential, because it is through the process of understanding the truth and practicing in accordance with the truth principles that you come to know God, understand God, and comprehend Him, that you grasp God’s intentions and achieve compatibility with Him, gaining a comprehension and acceptance of God’s essence. If you don’t put the truth principles into practice and merely act or do your duties according to your own will, you will never come into contact with the truth. What does it mean to never come into contact with the truth? It means that you will never come into contact with God’s attitude toward everything, His requirements, or His thoughts; and it is even less likely that you will come into contact with God’s disposition and essence as revealed in His work. If you fail to come into contact with these facts of God’s work, your comprehension of God will forever be limited to human imaginings and notions. It will remain within the realm of imaginings and notions and will never align with the essence and true disposition of God. In this way, you will not be able to achieve a genuine comprehension of God.

In the process of doing their duties, people often experience negative and rebellious states. If they can seek the truth and use the truth principles to address and resolve these issues, their negative emotions will not turn into complaints, resistance, defiance, clamoring, or even blasphemy. However, if people deal with these things relying solely on their own petty cleverness, on human self-restraint, human effort, diligence, disciplining their bodies, and other such approaches, then sooner or later, these human imaginings, judgments, and conjectures will become complaints, defiance, resistance, clamoring, and even blasphemy against God. When people are trapped in such negative emotions, they are liable to develop disobedience, dissatisfaction, and complaints against God, among other such feelings or thoughts. When these thoughts pile up inside people over time and they still do not seek the truth or use the truth to resolve them, their disobedience, dissatisfaction, and complaints will turn into defiance; they will engage in rebellious behavior, such as doing their duties perfunctorily or deliberately disturbing and sabotaging the church’s work, among other negative behaviors, to express their disobedience and dissatisfaction and thus achieve their aim of defying God. Some people wreck and disturb other people’s performance of duty. The meaning behind their actions is: “If I can’t do my duty, or if God doesn’t bless me in my duty, I’ll make sure none of you can do your duties well!” and then they start causing disturbances. Some people do this through words, while others use some actions. What things might those who disturb others with their actions do? For example, they might deliberately delete files from someone else’s computer to affect the results of their duty, or they might deliberately disturb online gatherings. This is devils and Satans disturbing people. People don’t understand: “How can someone of such an age do such foul things? They’re not a teenager, after all; how can they still carry out such pranks?” In fact, people in their thirties, forties, fifties, or sixties can also do these things. These various behaviors are inconceivable; these are not actions of a person with a conscience and reason, but those of devils and Satans. Seeing that others are not affected and their goals are not achieved, such a person would then vent negativity and cause disturbances during times when many people are present or during gatherings. When they begin to pour out their dissatisfaction through actions, it already becomes difficult to control the situation; it’s very hard to rein them in, and if the situation continues to develop it can only escalate, becoming increasingly serious in nature. They not only cause disturbances with their actions but also use various means and methods, employing aggressive and judgmental language to disturb others as they do their duty. Regardless of whether they achieve their goals, they then resist God in their heart; they don’t read God’s words or learn hymns, and they refuse to read any books related to God’s words or the truth. What do they do at home? They read novels, watch TV series, learn cooking techniques, study makeup and hairstyling…. During gatherings, they do not fellowship their understanding of God’s words, nor do they fellowship how to resolve corrupt dispositions and revelations of corruption. When others fellowship, they deliberately hijack the conversation, cut off whoever is speaking, intentionally shift the topic, and so on, always saying things that undermine and disturb. Why do they act this way? The reason lies in their belief that they have no hope of salvation, which causes them to give up and begin to act recklessly; they look to find a few companions before they are cleared out or expelled from the church—if they cannot be blessed, they’ll make sure others can’t either. Why do they think this way? They believe the God they have faith in is not like the god they initially imagined; He does not love people as much as they imagined and is not as righteous either, and He is certainly not as sincerely affectionate toward people as they imagined. God loves others but not them; God saves others but not them. Now that they see no hope for themselves and feel they cannot be saved, they give up and begin to act recklessly. But that’s not all; they also want others to see that since there is no hope for them, there is no hope for others either, and they are only satisfied when they’ve made everyone give up their faith in God and withdraw from their belief. Their goal in doing this is: “If I can’t receive the blessings of the kingdom of heaven, you’d better not even dream of gaining them either!” What sort of wretch is such a person? Are they not a devil? They are a devil, headed for hell, who also forbids others from believing in God and entering the kingdom of heaven; they’re marching straight toward a dead end! Anyone with a bit of conscience and a bit of a heart that is afraid of God should not act this way; if they truly commit great evil and are revealed, making them feel they no longer have hope, they will still aim to help others succeed, letting others earnestly believe in God and not follow their example. They might say, “I am too weak, my fleshly desires are strong, and I am too enamored with the world. This is my own fault; I deserve it! You keep being earnest believers; don’t be influenced by me. During gatherings, I’ll keep a lookout, and if the police of the great red dragon enter the village, I will alert you.” Anyone with a shred of humanity should at least do this much, not to disturb others’ pursuit of the truth. But those without humanity, when things don’t go their way or when they see the brothers and sisters looking down on them and distancing themselves, feel that God has revealed and eliminated them, that they have no hope of salvation. When they harbor such ideas and thoughts, they give up and begin to act recklessly, venting negativity and disturbing church life without scruples. What kind of people do this? Are they not devils? (Yes.) Should one show courtesy to people who are devils? (No.) So how should this be handled? You say, “You come to gatherings yet neither read God’s words nor accept the truth. What are you here for then? To cause disturbances, right? You think you have no hope of salvation; actually, we don’t feel that we have much hope either, but we strive. We believe that God is not partial, that He is trustworthy, that His heart in saving people is sincere, and that His heart does not change. As long as there is a sliver of hope, we will not give up. We won’t constantly be negative and misunderstand God like you. You’re dreaming if you think you can disturb us or hold us back! If you stubbornly persist, continue to believe this way, and keep maliciously wanting to disturb us, then don’t blame us for being rude to you. Starting today, you are cleared out; there is no place for you in the church anymore. Now beat it!” In this way, isn’t the problem handled? It’s simple, just a few words and they’re cleared out. It’s such an easy thing to do! Why handle it this way? Because the nature essence of such people cannot change; they will not accept the truth. They think they have no hope of salvation; God has not said this, nor have the brothers and sisters, yet they commit evil and cause disturbances in this way. What will they do if one day they really are expelled for committing evil and disturbing the church’s work, or if God disciplines them because they do not pursue the truth? Could they become enemies of God, could they seek revenge? It’s very likely! It’s good that such people are revealed before they can accomplish any misdeeds or commit any great evil. This is God’s doing; God has revealed them. Now, clearing them out is just right; other people have not yet suffered any loss. Handling it this way is timely and appropriate; everyone gains discernment, and the evil people are dealt with. Their role as a foil has been adequately fulfilled.

Basically, these are the various states and manifestations of people who vent negativity. When their desire to pursue status, fame, and gain has not been fulfilled, when God does things that run contrary to their notions and imaginings, things that involve their interests, they become ensnared in feelings of disobedience and dissatisfaction. And when they have these feelings, their minds start to produce excuses, pretexts, justifications, defenses, and other thoughts of complaint. At this time, they do not praise God or submit to Him, and even less so do they seek the truth to know themselves; instead, they fight against God using their notions, imaginings, thoughts and viewpoints, or impetuousness. And how do they fight against God? They spread their feelings of disobedience and dissatisfaction, using this to make their thoughts and viewpoints clear to God, trying to make God act according to their will and their demands in order to satisfy their wishes; only then are their feelings appeased. In particular, God expresses many truths to judge and chastise people, to purify their corrupt dispositions, to save people from the influence of Satan, and who knows how many people’s dreams of being blessed have been cut short by these truths, shattering the fantasy of being raptured into the kingdom of heaven that they hoped for day and night. They want to do everything they can to turn things around—but they are powerless, they can only be plunged into disaster with negativity and resentment. They are disobedient toward all of this that God has arranged, because what God does is in conflict with their notions, interests, and thinking. In particular, when the church does the work of cleansing and eliminates many people, these people think that God does not save them, that He has spurned them, that they are being treated unfairly, and so they will unite to defy God; they will deny that God is the truth, deny the identity and essence of God, and deny the righteous disposition of God. Of course, they will also deny the fact of God’s sovereignty over all things. And by what means do they deny all this? Through defiance and resistance. The implication is “What God does is at odds with my notions, and so I do not submit, I do not believe that you are the truth. I am going to clamor against you and will spread these things in the church and among people! I will say whatever I want, and I don’t care what the consequences are. I have freedom of speech; you can’t shut me up—I’ll say what I want. What can you do?” When these people insist on voicing their wrong thoughts and viewpoints, are they talking about their own understanding? Are they fellowshipping about the truth? Absolutely not. They are spreading negativity; they are giving voice to heresies and fallacies. They are not trying to know their own corruption or exposing it; they are not exposing the things they have done that are at odds with the truth, nor are they exposing the mistakes they have made. Instead, they are doing their utmost to rationalize and defend their mistakes to prove that they are right, and at the same time they are also drawing an absurd conclusion, and voicing adverse and distorted viewpoints, as well as twisted arguments and heresies. The effect on God’s chosen people in the church is to mislead and disturb them; it can even plunge some people into a state of negativity and confusion. These are all the adverse effects and disturbances caused by people venting negativity. Therefore, those who vent negativity should be restricted, along with their speech and behavior—they should not be indulged or permitted. The church should have appropriate methods and principles to deal with these people. For one thing, the brothers and sisters should discern these people and their negative remarks. For another, when God’s chosen people have discernment, the church should promptly clear out or expel these individuals according to the truth principles, to prevent more people from being influenced and disturbed. This concludes our fellowship on the various facets of venting negativity.

C. The Principles and Paths for Resolving Negativity

People possess a satanic nature; living by a satanic disposition, it is difficult to avoid negative states. Especially when one does not understand the truth, negativity becomes a common occurrence. Everyone has moments of negativity; some more often, some less, some for longer periods, and some for shorter. People’s stature differs, and so do their states of negativity. Those with greater stature only become somewhat negative when faced with trials, while those with lesser stature, still not understanding the truth, are unable to discern when others spread some notions or speak absurdities; they can be disturbed, influenced, and become negative. Any problem that arises can lead to their negativity, even trivial matters not worth mentioning. How should this issue of frequent negativity be resolved? If someone does not know how to seek the truth, does not know how to eat and drink God’s words, or pray to God, then it becomes very problematic; they can only rely on the support and help of the brothers and sisters. If no one is able to help, or if they do not accept help, they might remain so negative that they can’t recover and may even stop believing. Look, it is very dangerous for someone to always have notions and easily become negative. No matter how one fellowships the truth to such people, they don’t accept it, always insisting that their own notions and imaginings are correct; they are extremely troublesome people. However negative you might be, you should understand in your heart that having notions does not mean they align with the truth; it means there is a problem in your comprehension. If you have some reason, you should not spread these notions; this is the least people should uphold. If you have a bit of a God-fearing heart and can admit you are a follower of God, you should seek the truth to resolve your notions, submit to the truth, and avoid causing disruptions and disturbances. If you cannot do this and insist on spreading notions, then you have lost your reason; you are mentally abnormal, possessed by demons, and not in control of yourself. Dominated by demons, you speak out and spread these notions no matter what—there’s no helping it, this is the work of evil spirits. If you have some conscience and reason, you should be able to do this: not spread notions, and not disturb the brothers and sisters. Even if you become negative, you should not do things that harm the brothers and sisters; you should simply do your duty well, do what you should do properly, and ensure that you are beyond self-reproach—this is the basic standard of being a person. Even if you are sometimes negative, but haven’t done anything to overstep boundaries, God will not fuss over your negativity. As long as you possess conscience and reason, are able to pray to and rely on God, and seek the truth, you will eventually come to understand the truth and turn yourself around. If you face significant events, such as being dismissed and eliminated for not doing real work as a leader, and you feel there is no hope of salvation, and become negative—overly negative to the point that you can’t recover, feeling like you’ve been condemned and cursed, and you develop misunderstandings and complaints against God—what should you do? This is very easy to handle: Find some people who understand the truth to fellowship and seek with, and speak your heart out with these people. More importantly, come before God to pray truthfully about your negativity and weakness, as well as some of the things you don’t understand and can’t overcome, one by one—fellowship with God, don’t conceal anything. If there are unspeakable things that you cannot express to others, it is even more imperative that you come before God to pray. Some people ask, “Doesn’t speaking to God about it lead to condemnation?” Haven’t you already done many things that oppose God and earn His condemnation? Why fret over this one additional thing? Do you think that if you don’t speak about it, God won’t know? God knows everything you think. You should openly fellowship with God, speaking your heart out, presenting your problems and states truthfully to Him. Your weakness, rebelliousness, and even your complaints can all be spoken to God; even if you just want to vent, that’s fine—God will not condemn this. Why doesn’t God condemn this? God knows man’s stature; even if you don’t speak with Him, He still knows your stature. By speaking with God, in one regard, this is your opportunity to lay yourself bare and be open to God. In another regard, it also shows your attitude of submission to God; at the very least, you are letting God see that your heart is not closed to Him, you are just weak, not having enough stature to overcome this matter, that’s all. You don’t intend to defy; your attitude is to submit, it’s just that your stature is too small, and you cannot bear this matter. When you fully open your heart to God and are able to share your deepest thoughts with Him, although what you say may contain weakness and complaints—and, in particular, many negative and adverse things—there is one thing that is correct in this: You acknowledge that you possess a corrupt disposition, you acknowledge that you are a created being, you do not deny God’s identity as the Creator, nor do you deny that the relationship between you and God is that of a created being and the Creator. You entrust to God the things you find most difficult to overcome, the things that make you weakest, and you tell God all your innermost feelings—this shows your attitude. Some people say, “I prayed to God once, and it didn’t resolve my negativity. I still can’t overcome it.” It doesn’t matter; you just need to earnestly seek the truth. Regardless of how much you understand, God will gradually strengthen you, and you will no longer be as weak as you were at the beginning. No matter how much weakness and negativity you have, or how many complaints and adverse emotions you have, speak with God; don’t treat God as an outsider. Whoever you may hide things from, do not hide anything from God, because God is your only reliance and also your only salvation. Only by coming before God can these problems be resolved; relying on people is useless. Thus, when facing negativity and weakness, those who come before God and rely on Him are the smartest. Only foolish and stubborn people, when facing significant and critical events and needing to pour out their hearts to God, move away from and avoid God even more, plotting in their own minds. And what is the result of all this plotting? Their negativity and complaints turn into defiance, and defiance turns into resisting and clamoring against God; these people become utterly irreconcilable with God, and their relationship with God is completely broken. However, when you face such negativity and weakness, if you can choose to still come before God to seek the truth, and choose to submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, and you take on a genuinely submissive attitude, then, seeing that you still sincerely want to submit to Him even when you are negative and weak, God will know how to guide you, leading you out of your negativity and weakness. After having these experiences, you will develop a true faith in God. You will feel that no matter what difficulties you face, as long as you seek God and wait for Him, He will arrange a way out for you without you knowing it, allowing you to see that, without you having even realized it, situations have changed, making you no longer weak but strong, and increasing your faith in God. When you reflect on these events, you will feel how childish your weakness was at that time. In fact, people are just that childish, and without God’s support, they would never mature from their childishness and ignorance. Only by gradually accepting and submitting to God’s sovereignty in the process of experiencing these things, positively and actively facing these facts, seeking principles, seeking God’s intentions, no longer avoiding or distancing oneself from God, nor being rebellious against God, but becoming more and more submissive, with less and less rebellion, becoming closer and closer to God, and more and more able to submit to God—only by experiencing like this does one’s life gradually grow and mature, growing fully into the stature of an adult.

How should one treat and resolve negative states? Negativity is not to be feared; the key is to have reason. Is it not easy for one to act foolishly when they are constantly negative? When one is negative, they only either complain or give up on themselves, and speak and act without any reason—does this not affect their performance of duty? If one can succumb to despair and slack off in negativity, isn’t this a betrayal of God? Severe negativity is like having a mental illness, it’s somewhat similar to being possessed by demons; it is to lack reason. Not seeking the truth for solutions is indeed dangerous. When people are negative, if they entirely lack a God-fearing heart, they will easily lose reason; they will go around spreading their negativity, dissatisfaction, and notions. This is intentionally opposing God and can all too easily disrupt and disturb the church’s work, a consequence too dreadful to contemplate, and they very well might be spurned by God. However, if a person in their negativity is able to seek the truth, maintains a God-fearing heart, does not speak negatively, nor spread their own negativity and notions, and maintains their faith in God and a submissive attitude toward Him, such a person can easily emerge from negativity. Everyone has moments of negativity; they just vary in intensity, duration, and reasons. Some people generally aren’t negative but become so when they face failing or faltering at something; others can become negative over trivial matters, even if it’s just something someone says that wounds their pride. And some become negative over slightly unfavorable circumstances. Do such people understand how to live life? Do they have insight? Do they possess the breadth of mind and magnanimity of a normal person? No. No matter the circumstances, as long as one lives within their corrupt dispositions, they will frequently fall into some negative states. Of course, if a person understands the truth and can see through things, their negative states will become increasingly rare and their negativity will gradually disappear as their stature grows, ultimately vanishing completely. Those who do not love the truth, who do not accept the truth at all, will have an increasing number of negative emotions, negative states, and negative thoughts and attitudes, which will become more serious the more they pile up, and once these things overwhelm them, they will not be able to recover, which is very dangerous. Therefore, resolving negativity promptly is crucial. To resolve negativity, one must proactively seek the truth; reading and pondering God’s words while maintaining a state of quietude in His presence will lead to gaining enlightenment and illumination, allowing one to understand the truth and see through the essence of negativity, thus resolving the problem of negativity. If you still cling to your own notions and reasons, then you are extremely foolish, and you will die from your foolishness and ignorance. Regardless, resolving negativity should be proactive, not passive. Some people think that when negativity arises, they should just ignore it; when they feel happy again, their negativity will have naturally turned into joy. This is a fantasy; without seeking or accepting the truth, negativity will not automatically remove itself. Even if you forget it and feel nothing in your heart, it does not mean that the root cause of your negativity has been resolved. Once the right circumstances arise, it will flare up again, which is a common occurrence. If one is smart and has reason, they should immediately seek the truth when negativity arises and use the method of accepting the truth to resolve it, thus resolving the issue of negativity from its roots. All who are frequently negative are so because they cannot accept the truth. If you do not accept the truth, negativity will cling to you like a devil, making you perpetually negative, causing you to develop feelings of disobedience, dissatisfaction, and grievance toward God, until you find yourself resisting, fighting against, and clamoring against God—that’s when you’ll have reached the end, and your ugly face will be exposed. People begin to expose you, dissect you, and characterize you, and it’s only now, faced with the grim reality, that your tears start to flow; this is when you collapse and begin to beat your chest in despair—just you wait to accept God’s punishment! Negativity not only weakens people, but it also causes them to complain about God, judge God, deny God, and even directly fight and clamor against God. Therefore, if the resolution of someone’s negativity is delayed, once they reveal blasphemous words and offend God’s disposition, the consequences are very severe. If you fall into negativity and harbor complaints due to a single event, a phrase, or a thought or viewpoint, this shows that your understanding of the matter is distorted, and you have notions and imaginings about it; your views on this matter certainly do not align with the truth. At this point, you need to seek the truth and face it correctly, striving to swiftly correct these erroneous notions and ideas as early as possible, not allowing yourself to be bound and misguided by these notions into a state of disobedience, dissatisfaction, and grievance toward God. Resolving negativity promptly is crucial, and resolving it completely is also very important. Of course, the best way to resolve negativity is to seek the truth, read God’s words more, and come before God to seek His enlightenment. Sometimes, you might temporarily be unable to reverse your thoughts and viewpoints, but at the very least, you should know that you are wrong and that these thoughts of yours are distorted. In this way, the minimum result will be that these erroneous thoughts and viewpoints will not affect your loyalty in doing your duty, will not affect your relationship with God, and will not affect your coming before God to open your heart and pray—at the very least, this is the result that must be achieved. When you are engulfed in negativity and are disobedient and dissatisfied, and you harbor complaints toward God but don’t want to seek the truth for resolution, thinking your relationship with God is normal when in fact your heart is far from God and you no longer wish to read His words or pray, hasn’t the problem become severe? You say, “No matter how negative I am, my performance of duty hasn’t been hindered and I haven’t abandoned my responsibilities. I am loyal!” Are these words valid? If you are frequently negative, it is not a matter of a corrupt disposition; there are more serious issues: You have notions about God, misunderstand Him, and have created barriers between yourself and God. If you do not seek the truth to resolve this, it is very dangerous. How can one ensure they do their duty loyally to the end and without perfunctoriness if they are often negative? Can negativity just go away or disappear on its own if it’s not resolved? If one does not seek the truth for a solution in a timely manner, negativity will continue to develop and only get worse. The consequences it causes will only become more detrimental. They absolutely will not develop in a positive direction, only growing in an adverse one. Therefore, when negativity arises, you must quickly seek the truth to resolve it; only this ensures that you are able to do your duties well. Resolving negativity is crucial, and it cannot be delayed!

June 26, 2021